I  W.  H.LOWDERMIUftCO., 

Standard.  Choice  and  Rare  Law  and 

Miscellaneous  Books, 

Oovernment  IfublicaiionB, 

W  ashington,  D.  C. 


^TM.^ 


OO 


THE 

WILLIAM  R.  PERKINS 

LIBRARY 

OF 

DUKE  UNIVERSITY 


HISTORICAL  ILLUSTRATIONS 


OF 


THE  FOURTH  CANTO 


OF 


HISTORICAIi  ILLUSTRATIONS 


THE  FOURTH  CANTO 


3 


C0NT&lNI5a 


DISSERTATIONS  ON  THE  RUINS  OF  ROME: 


AN  ESSAY  ON  ITALIAN  LITERATURE, 


BY 

JOHN  HOBHOUSE,  Esq. 

av  TRINITY  KOLLKGE,  CAMBRIDGE,  M.  A.  A^P  F.  R. 


JVEJV-YORK: 

PUBLISHED    BY  WILLIAM  B.  GILl.F.r, 
NO.  92  BROADWAY. 

Printed  by  William  A.  Mercein. 

1818. 


S^76'H- 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


The  reader  of  the  Illustrations  is  requested  to  bear 
in  mind  the  object  with  which  they  were  originally 
Written,  and  not  expect  to  find  in  them  a  plan  or  order 
which  can  be  discovered  only  with  reference  to  the 
Fourth  Canto  of  Childe  Harold.     They  follow   the 
progress  of  the  Pilgrim,  and  were,  indeed,  as  well  as 
the  notes  now  appended  to  the  Canto,  for  the  most 
part  written  whilst  the  noble  author  was  yet  em- 
ployed in  the  composition  of  his  poem.     They  were, 
with  the  exception  of  the  three  or  four  last  articles, 
put  into  the  hands  of  Lord  Byron,  much  in  the  state 
in  which  they  now  appear;  and  the  partiality  of  friend- 
ship assigned  to  them  the  same  place  which  is  oc- 
cupied by  the  notes  detached  from  them.     But  the 
writer,  on  his  return  to  England,  considered  that  the 
appendix  to  the  Canto  would  thus  be  swelled  to  a 
disproportioned  bulk,  and  that  the  numerous  readers 
of  the  poetry  would  be  better  pleased  if  the  choice, 
whether  or  not  they  were  to  be  furnished  with  a  vo- 
lume of  prose,  were  to  be  left  altogether  to  them- 
selves.    Under  this  impression,  such  only  of  the  no- 
tices as  were  more  immediately  connected  with  the 
text  of  the  poem,  were  added  to  that  work,  and  per- 
haps the  writer  may,  even  in  the  present  instance, 
have  to  apologize  for  not  being  contented  with  less 
copious  extracts. 

Some  of  the  longer  notices  of  this  volume  are,  it 
will  be  seen,  dissertations  not  at  all  requisite  for  the 


VI 

intelligibility  of  Childe  Harold,  although  they  may 
illustrate  the  positions  or  the  objects  therein  con- 
tained. The  writer  did  not  like  to  touch  upon  the 
topics  connected  with  a  view  of  the  ruins  of  Rome, 
without  recurring  to  the  best  authorities  on  that  sub- 
ject. His  researches  naturally  made  him  diffuse,  and 
he  will  be  well  pleased  if  they  have  not  made  him 
desultory  and  tedious.  He  must  own  himself  not  to 
have  been  idle  during  the  time  employed  in  his  in- 
vestigation, which  occupied  several  months  of  his 
residence  at  Venice;  but  he  will  also  confess,  that  it 
is  very  likely  he  ought  to  have  protracted  that  time, 
and  more  carefully  revised  his  compilation.  Those 
who  may  discover  the  errors  of  these  notices,  are 
entreated  to  remember,  that  in  questions  depending 
upon  the  consultation  of  authorities,  the  most  as- 
siduous attention  may  overlook  a  book,  a  phrase,  or 
a  word,  which  may  change  the  whole  face  of  the  con- 
troversy; that  industry  and  fairness  may  be  demanded 
from  all  writers,  but  that  the  endless  details  of  eru- 
dition forbid  the  antiquarian  inquirer  to  hope  for  any 
other  than  qualified  applause. 

It  is  trusted,  however,  that  the  information  here 
collected  is  such  as  a  traveller  in  Italy  would  wish 
to  find  prepared  for  him;  and  such  also  as  those  whose 
voyages  are  confined  to  their  libraries  may  esteem, 
if  not  a  substitute  for  an  actual  survey,  at  least  an 
addition  to  their  stock  of  knowledge  on  subjects 
which  will  never  lose  their  interest,  until  the  example 
of  the  greatest,  the  best,  and  the  wisest  of  mankind, 
shall  be  found  too  painful  and  impracticable  a  lesson 
for  modern  degeneracy. 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

Attachment  of  the   Italians  to  their  distinguished  Fellow- 
citizens  n 

Essay  on  the  Imprisonment  of  Tasso 13 

Anecdotes  of  Alfieri 29 

Account  of  the  Ruin  of  the  Temple  on  the  Clitumnus 31 

Ignorance  of  the  Antiquaries  in  Italy — the  Site  of  the  Ban- 

dusian  Fountain  35 

The  approach  to  Rome 37 

Character  of  some  Antiquaries  who  have  treated  of  Rome  ....     40 
A  Dissertation  on  the  Destroyers  of  the  City  of  Rome,  and  an 

Account  of  the  gradual  disappearance  of  the  Ruins 44 

Tomb  of  the  Scipios Ill 

Destruction  of  the  Tombs  near  Rome 113 

Doubts  respecting  the  Circuit  of  the  Walls  of  old  Rome,  and 

the  Ruins  in  general 117 

Remains  of  Republican  Rome,  and  the  comparative  want  of 

Interest  attached  to  the  Cesarean  City 127 

Noticeof  the  Tomb  of  Cecilia  Metella 130 

Doubts  respecting  the  Destruction  of  the  Palace  of  the  Cae- 
sars.   Desolation  of  the  Palatine  133 

The  Column  and  Forum  of  Trajan 138 

Memoir  on  the  Destruction  of  the  Capitol  '. 144 

The  Roman  Forum. — Doubts  respecting  the  Remains  in  that 

Quarter  150 

Notices  on  the  Romans  of  the  middle  Ages. — Of  Coladi  Ri- 

enzi. — Of  the  modern  Senate  and  Government  of  Rome     159 

The  Destruction  qf  the  Coliseum 168 

The  Pantheon 182 


VIU 

Page 
Inquiry  respecting  the  Story  and  the  Site  of  the  Temple  of 

the  Roman  Piety 187 

On  the  Castle  of  St.  Angelo 190 

Roman  Catholic  Religion,  and  the  Ceremony  of  the  Flagel- 
lants.— Probable  Effects  of  Despotism  in  Italy 200 

Account  of  some  sepulchral  Vases  lately  discovered  in  a  Rock 

at  Albano 207 


ESSAY  ON  THE  PRESENT  LITERATURE  OF  ITALY, 
and  a  general  Character  of  the  Lives  and  Writings  of 
Cesarotti,  Parini,  Alfieri,  Pindemonte,  Monti,  and 
FoscoLO 221 

Letters  of  Torciuato  Tasso  never  before  published,  with 

Translations 306  et  seq. 

Letters  written  by  Cola  di  Rienzi,  Tribune  of  Rome, 

never  before  published,  with  Translations 326  etseq. 

Fac  Simile  of  Tasso's  Hand-writing 

Drawings  of  the  Albano  Vases....,,.....,. Mi,,....«..i....«f. 


HISTORICAL  ILLUSTRATIONS 


OF    THE 


FOURTH  CANTO 


OP 


CHILDE  HAROLD. 


stanza  XXXI. 

And  His  their  pride — 
»4n  honest  pride — and  let  it  be  their  praise, 
To  offer  to  the  passing  stranger's  gaze 
His  mansion  and  his  sepulchre. 

A.  HERE  is  no  country  which  can  contend  with  Italy  in  tlic 
honours  heaped  upon  the  great  men  of  past  ages :  and  the  pre- 
sent race  accuse  themselves  of  living  upon  the  labours  of 
their  ancestors,  and,  as  is  the  usual  reproach  of  heirs,  of  find- 
ing in  their  transmitted  wealth  an  inducement  to  inactivity. 
The  territorial  divisions  and  subdivisions  which  contributed  to 
the  emulation  of  these  luminaries  themselves,  has  tended  to 
the  preservation  of  their  fame ;  and  the  jealousy  of  each  little 
district  guards  the  altar  of  its  individual  divinity,  not  only  as  the 
shrine  which  is  to  attract  the  pilgrims  of  united  Europe,  but 
as  the  birthright  which  is  to  distinguish  it  amongst  the  children 
of  the  same  mother,  and  exalt  it  to  a  preference  above  its  im- 
mediate neighbours.  Italian  rivalry,  in  default  of  those  con- 
tests which  employed  the  arts  and  arms  of  the  middle  ages, 
now  vents  itself  in  the  invidious  comparison  of  individual 
fasti,  and  in  the  innocent  ostentatious  display  not  of  deeds 
but  names.  Thus  it  is  that  there  is  scarcely  a  village  in  which 
the  traveller  is  not  reminded  of  the  birth,  or  the  residence,  or 
the  death,  or  the  deeds  of  one  or  more  of  the  offspring  of  a 


12 

soil,  fruitful  in  every  production,  but  more  especially  the 
land  of  men.  The  affection  with  which  even  the  lower  classes 
appropriate  the  fame  of  their  departed  countrymen  is  very 
striking  to  a  foreigner;  and  such  expressions  as  "  our  Corre- 
gio,"  and  "  our  Ariosto,"  in  the  mouth  of  a  peasant,  revive, 
as  it  were,  not  only  the  memory,  but  the  man  himself.  When 
Napoleon  made  his  progress  through  his  Italian  dominions,  the 
inhabitants  of  Reggio  received  him  with  a  fete,  the  principal 
decoration  of  which  was  a  temple  of  immortality,  painted  at 
the  end  of  a  gallery,  adorned  with  a  double  range  of  tablets,  to 
the  honour  of  those  worthies  for  whose  existence  the  world  had 
been  indebted  to  the  dutchy  of  Reggio.  The  pretensions  of 
Reggio  may  exemplify  those  of  the  other  provinces  of  Italy, 
and  the  reader  may  not  object  to  survey  the  pompous  list. 

Boiardo,  Signore  di  Scandiano,  epico,  del  secolo  xv. 

Guida  da  Lazara,  giureconsulto,  del  secolo  xiii. 

Ludovico  Ariosto,  nato  a  Reggio,  da  Daria  Maleguzi,  Reg- 
giana,  lirico,  comico,  satirico,  epico,  del  secolo  xiv. 

Domenicho  Toschi,    Cardinale,  Reggiano,    giureconulto, 
del  secolo  xvi. 

Filippo  Caroli,  Reggiano,  giureconsulto,  del  secolo  xiv. 

Antonio  Pacchioni,  Reggiano,  anatomico,  del  secolo  xvii. 

Cesare  Magati,  Scandianese,  medico  e  chirurgo,  del  secolo 
xvii. 

Gianntonio  Rocca,  Reggiano,  matematico,  del  secolo  xvii. 

Antonio  Allegri,  detto  il  Corregio  da  Corregio,  pittore,  del 
secolo  xvi. 

Tomaso   Cambiatori,   Reggiano,     giureconsulto,   oratore, 
poeta,  del  secolo  xvi. 

Sebastiano  Conradi  di  Arceto,  grammatico  e  critico,  del  se- 
colo xvi. 

Lelio  Orsi,  Reggiano,  pittore,  del  secolo  xvi. 

Vincenzo  Cartari,  Reggiano,  tilologo,  del  secolo  xvi. 

Rafaello  Motta,  Reggiano,  pittore,  del  secolo  xvi. 

Guido  Panciroli,  Reggiano,  giureconsulto,  storico,  filologo, 
del  secolo  xvi. 

Ludovico  Parisetti,  Reggiano,  poeta  Latino,  del  secolo  xvi. 
Gasparo  Scaroffi,  Reggiano,  ceconomista,  del  secolo  xvi. 
Luca  Ferrari,  Reggiano,  pittore,  del  secolo  xvii. 


13 

Domenico  Ceccati,  da  Stiano,  scultore  ed  intagliatore,  del 
secolo  xvii. 

Antonio  Vallisnera  da  Scandiano,  medico,  naturalista,  del 
secolo  xvii. 

Pelegrino  Sallandri,  Reggiano,  poeta,  del  secolo  xviii. 

Agostino  Parradisi,  Reggiano,  oeconomista,  oratore,  poeta, 
del  secolo  xviii. 

Francesco  Fontanesi,  Reggiano,  poeta,  del  secolo  xviii. 

Jacopo  Zannoni  da  Montecchio,  botanico,  del  secolo  xvii. 

Lazari  Spalanzani  da  Scandiano,  naturalista,  del  secolo 
xviii. 

Laura  Bassi  di  Scandiano,  fisica,  del  secolo  xviii. 

Carlo  Antonioli  da  Corregio,  filologo,  del  secolo  xviii. 

Francesco  Cassoli,  Reggiano,  poeta,  del  secolo  xviii. 

Luigi  Lamberti,  Reggiano,  filologo  e  poeta,  del  secolo  xviii: 

Antonio  Gamborini,  Reggiano,  teologo,  del  secolo  xviii. 

Bonaventura  Corti,  Reggiano,  fisico,  del  secolo  xviii. 

Stanza  XXXVI. 

And  Tasso  is  their  glory  and  their  shame. 
Hark  to  his  strain !   and  then  survey  his  cell  I 

In  the  hospital  of  St.  Anna,  at  Ferrara,  they  show  a  cell;, 
over  the  door  of  which  is  the  following  inscription  : 

Rispettate,  O  Posteri,  la  celebrita  di  questa  stanza,  dove  Torquato 
Tasso  infermo  pru  di  tristezza  che  delirio,  ditenuto  dimora  anni  vii  mesi 
II,  scrisse  verse  e  prose,  e  fu  rimesso  in  liberta  ad  instanza  della  citta  di 
Bergamo,  nel  giorno  vi  Luglio  1586. 

The  dungeon  is  below  the  ground  jfloor  of  the  hospital,  and 
the  light  penetrates  through  its  grated  window  from  a  small 
yard,  which  seems  to  have  been  common  to  other  cells.  It  is 
nine  paces  long,  between  five  and  six  wide,  and  about  seven 
feet  high.  The  bedstead,  so  they  tell,  has  been  carried  off 
piecemeal,  and  the  door  half  cut  away  by  the  devotion  of  those 
whom  "  the  verse  and  prose"  of  the  prisoner  have  brought  to 
Ferrara. 

The  above  address  to  posterity  was  inscribed  at  the  instiga- 


14 

lion  of  General  Miollis,  who  filled  Italy  with  tributes  to  her 
great  men,  and  was  not  always  very  solicitous  as  to  the  authen- 
tic application  of  his  record.  Common  tradition  had  assigned 
the  cell  to  Tasso  long  before  the  inscription :  and  we  may  re- 
collect, that,  some  years  ago,  a  great  German  poet  was  much 
incensed,  not  at  the  sufferings  of  the  prisoner,  but  at  the  pre- 
tensions of  the  prison.  But  the  author  of  Werter  need  not 
have  felt  so  insulted  by  the  demand  for  his  faith*  The  cell 
was  assuredly  one  of  the  prisons  of  the  hospital,  and  in  one  of 
those  prisons  we  know  that  Tasso  was  confined.*  The  pre- 
sent inscription,  indeed,  does  exaggerate  the  merits  of  the 
chamber,  for  the  poet  was  a  prisoner  in  the  same  room  only 
from  the  middle  of  March,  1579,  to  December,  1580,  when 
he  was  removed  to  a  contiguous  apartment  much  larger,  in 
which,  to  use  his  own  expressions,  he  could  philosophize  and 
walk  about.!  His  prison  was,  in  the  year  1584,  again  en- 
larged-l  It  is  equally  certain,  also,  that  once,  ia  1581,  he  was 
permitted  to  leave  the  hospital  for  the  greater  part  of  a  day,§ 
and  that  this  favour  was  occasionally  granted  to  him  in  the 
subsequentyears  of  his  confinement.  |(  The  inscription  is  incor- 
rect, also,  as  to  the  immediate  cause  of  his  enlargement,  which 
was  promised  to  the  city  of  Bergamo,  but  was  carried  into 
effect  at  the  intercession  of  Don  Vincenzo  Gonzago,  Prince  of 
Mantua,  chiefly  owing  to  the  unwearied  application  of  Antonio 
Constantino,  a  gentleman  in  the  suite  of  the  Florentine  em- 
bassy.** 

But  the  address  should  not  have  confined  itself  to  the  re- 

*  The  author  of  the  historical  memoir  on  Italian  tragedy  saw  this  dun- 
geon in  1792,  and,  in  spite  of  some  hints  from  the  English  biographer  of 
Tasso,  was  inclined  to  believe  it  to  have  been  the  original  place  of  the 
poet's  confinement.  See  Black's  Life  of  Tasso,  cap.  xv.  vol.  ii.  p.  97  : 
but  the  site  will  not  correspond  with  what  Tasso  says  of  his  being  re- 
moved to  a  neighbouring  apartment,  "  assai  piu  commoda" — there  is  no 
such  commodious  neighbouring  apartment  on  the  same  level. 

f  La  Vita  di  Torquato  Tasso,  scritta  dall'  abate  Pierantonio  Serassi, 
Hcconda  edizione. ...  in  Bergamo,  IT&O,  pp.  34  and  64,  torn.  ii. 

I  La  Vita,  &.c.  lib.  iii.  p.  83,  torn.  ii. 

^  La  Vita,  &.c.  lib.  iii.  p.  68,  torn.  ii. 

)|  Vide  p.  83,  ut  sup. 

**  La  Vita,  fee.  lib.  iii.  p.  142,  torn.  ii. 


15 

spect  due  to  the  prison :  one  honest  line  might  have  been  al- 
lotted to  the  condemnation  of  the  gaoler.  There  seems  in 
the  Italian  writers  something  like  a  disposition  to  excuse  the 
Duke  of  Ferrara  by  extenuating  the  sufferings,  or  exaggerating 
the  derangement  of  the  poet.  He  who  contemplates  the  dun- 
geon, or  even  the  hospital,  of  St.  Anna,  will  be  at  a  loss  to  re- 
concile either  the  one  or  the  other  with  that  "  ample  lodge- 
ment" which,  according  to  the  antiquities  of  the  house  of 
Este,  the  partiality  of  Alfonso  allotted  to  the  man  "  whom  he 
loved  and  esteemed  much,  and  wished  to  keep  near  his  per- 
son."* Muratori  confesses  himself  unable  to  define  the 
offence  of  the  patient;  and  in  a  short  letter  devoted  expressly 
to  the  subject,  comes  to  no  other  general  conclusion,  than  that 
he  could  not  be  called  insane,!  but  was  confined  partly  for 
chastisement,  partly  for  cure,  having  probably  spoken  some 
indiscreet  words  of  Alfonso.  He  makes  no  mention  of  the 
disease  of  the  prince  ;  nor  is  it  easy  to  discover  that  free  ex- 
ercise of  his  understanding  for  which  Mr.  Gibbon  has  some- 
where praised  this  celebrated  antiquary.^     Indeed,  in  his  no- 

*  "  Ma  perciocche  questo  principe  I'amava  e  stimava  forte,  e  non  voleva 
privarsene  elesse  di  alimentalo  in  quell'  ampio  luogo,  con  desiderio  che 
ivi  fosse  curate  anche  il  corpo  suo."  Antichilil  Estensi,  parte  sec.  cap. 
xiii.  p.  405,  ediz.  fol,  Mutin.  1740. 

f  Lettera  ad  Apostolo  Zeno,  vide  Tasso's  Works,  voJ.  x.  p.  244.  "  Ne 
mentecatto  ne  pazzo,"  are  Muratori's  words.  See  also  p.  242  and  p.  24S. 
He  is  a  little  freer  spoken  in  this  letter,  but  still  says,  "the  wise  prince  did 
not  give  loay  to  hia  anger'''  Muratori's  Annals  were  attacked  on  their 
first  appearance,  as  "  uno  de'  libri  piu  fatali  al  principato  Romano ;"  to 
which  the  librarian  replied,  that  "  truth  was  neither  Guelf  nor  Ghibelline.*' 
If  he  had  thought  that  she  was  neither  catholic  nor  protestant,  he  would 
not  liave  slurred  over  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  as  an  event  which 
gave  rise  to  many  exaggerations  from  the  Hugonots.  "  Lascer6  io  dispu- 
tare  ai  gran  Dottori  intorno  al  giustificare  o  riprovare  quel  si  strepitoso 
fatto ;  bastando  a  me  di  dire,  che  per  cagion  d'esso  immense  esagerazioni 
fece  il  partito  de  gli  Ugonoti,  e  loro  servi  di  stimolo  e  scusa  per  ripigliar 
I'armi  contra  del  Re."  Annali  ad  an.  1572,  torn.  x.  p.  464.  In  page  469, 
ibid,  he  talks  of  the  great  loss  of  France  by  the  death  of  the  murderer 
Charles  IX.  who,  if  he  had  lived,  would  have  "  extirpated  the  seed  of 
heresy." 

\  For  a  fine  and  just  character  of  Muratori,  see,  however,  "the  Anti- 
quities of  the  House  of  Brunswick,"  p.  641 ,  vol  ii.  quarto.  Gibbon's  Misr. 
Works- 


16 

tice  of  this  injustice,  the  librarian  of  the  Duke  of  Modena,  so 
far  from  seeming  to  forget  the  interests  of  the  princely  house 
which  pensioned  his  labours,  suggests  rather  the  obvious  re- 
flection, that  when  a  wriler  has  to  obtain  or  repay  any  other 
patronage  than  that  of  the  public,  his  first  and  paramount  ob- 
ject cannot  be  the  establishment  of  truth.  Even  the  subject 
of  an  absolute  monarchy  is  an  unsafe  guide  on  almost  every 
topic.  The  over-rated  La  Bruyere  was  base  enough  to 
reckon  the  dragooning  of  the  protestants  amongst  the  most 
commendable  actions  of  Louis  XIV.* 

Manso,  the  friend  and  biographer  of  Tasso,  might  have  been 
expected  to  throw  some  light  upon  so  important  a  portion  of 
his  history,  but  the  five  chapters  devoted  to  the  subject  only 
encumbered  the  question  with  inconclusive  discussion.  What 
is  still  more  extraordinary,  it  appears,  that  of  seven  or  eight 
cotemporary  Ferrarese  annalists,  only  one  has  mentioned 
that  Tasso  was  confined  at  all,  and  that  one,  Faustini,  has  as- 
signed a  cause  more  laughable  than  instructive.!  The  later 
librarian  of  Modena  was  equally  disingenuous  with  his  prede- 
cessor, and  had  the  confidence  to  declare,  that  by  prescribing 
a  seven  years  confinement  Alfonso  consulted  only  the  health, 
and  honour,  and  advantage,  of  Tasso,  who  evinced  his  con- 
tinued obstinacy  by  considering  himself  a  prisoner.|  But, 
with  the  librarian's  leave,  the  suspicion  was  justified  by  the 
apprehension  of  his  Italian  cotemporaries,  who,  in  their  sup- 

*  The  same  writer  declares  "  homage  to  a  kin^"  to  be  the  sole  sufficing 
virtue  of  every  good  subject  in  a  monarchy,  "  where  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  love  of  our  country — the  interest,  the  glory,  and  the  service  of 
the  prince,  supply  its  place."  De  la  Republique,  chap.  x.  For  which 
sentiment  our  great  obsolete  poet  has  made  honourable  mention  of  him 
amongst  his  dunces,  [The  Dunciad,  book  iv.  v.  522.]  with  whom  he 
might  be  safely  left,  did  he  not  belong  rather  to  the  rogues  than  the  fools. 

f  "  II  Duca  Alfonso  II.  il  fece  rinchiudere  per  curarlo  di  una  fistola  che 
lO  travagliava."  Vid  Tiraboschi  Storia  della  Letter.  Ital.  lib.  iii.  part  iii. 
lom.  vii.  p.  1210,  edit.  Venet  1796. 

i  Credette  cgli  perci6  che  e  all'  onore  e  alia  salute  del  Tasso  niuna 
cosa  potesse  esser  piu  utile  che  il  tenerlo  non  gia  prigione,  ma  custodito 

intanto  procurava  con  rimedj  di  calmarne  I'animo  e  la  fantasia. 

Ma  cio  che  Alfonso  opero  al  vantaggio  del  Tasso  non  servi  che  a  renderne 
sempre  peggiore  la  conditione — Gli  parve  esser  prigione."  Tiraboschi, 
Storia,  8ic.  lib.  iii.  torn.  vii.  par.  iii-  p.  1£13,  edit.  Venet.  1796. 


17 

plications  lor  his  release,  seldom  gave  him  any  other  name. 
The  same  writer  announced,  in  the  first  edition  of  his  History 
of  Italian  Literature,  that  he  had  made  the  long-looked-for 
discovery  as  to  the  cause  of  Tasso's  confinement,  and  had  in- 
trusted the  documents  found  in  the  archives  of  the  house  of 
Este,  to  the  Abate  Serassi.  In  his  second  edition  he  declared 
that  his  expectations,  and  those  of  all  the  learned  world,  had 
been  answered  by  the  life  of  the  poet  published  by  the  Abate 
in  1785:*  but  the  antiquary,  still  faithful  to  his  patrons,  did 
not  mention,  that  it  appears  from  every  page  of  the  biography, 
that  the  imprisonment  must  be  attributed  rather  to  the  ven- 
geance and  mean  apprehensions  of  the  prince,  than  to  the  ex- 
travagance of  the  pt)et. 

The  Abate  Serassi  was  acknowledged  to  be  a  perfect  master 
of  the  "  cinque  cento,"  and  he  has  perhaps  spoken  as  freely 
as  could  be  expected  from  a  priest,  an  Italian,  and  a  frequent- 
er of  the  tables  of  the  great.  He  shows  that  he  is  labouring 
with  a  secret,  or  at  least,  a  persuasion,  which  he  is  at  a  loss  in 
what  manner  honestly  to  conceal ;  and  which,  in  spite  of  an 
habitual  respect  for  the  best  of  princes  and  the  most  illustrious 

*    Storia,  Stc.  p.  1212,  utsup. 

The  English  author  of  the  Lifeof  Tasso  seems  half  inclined  to  believe 
in  the  love  of  his  poet  for  Leonora.  [Black,  chap.  viii.  vol  i.  p.  188,  and 
chap.  xiii.  vol.  ii.  p.  2,]  and  quotes  a  passage  in  a  letter  to  Gonzaga,  omit- 
ted by  Serassi,  in  which  he  talks  of  the  princess  having  but  little  corres- 
ponded to  his  attachment  [lb.  chap.  xiv.  vol,  ii.  p.  59.]  Mr.  Walker,  in 
his  historical  memoir,  was  bold  enough  to  follow  the  old  story  even  in 
the  face  of  Serassi,  who  does,  however,  appear  to  have  completely  set- 
tled the  question.  Poetical  gallantry  will  account  for  all  the  phenomena. 
Dr.  Black  himself  wisely  rejects  that  passion  as  the  adequate  cause  of 
Torquato's  insanity :  but  we  may  not  perhaps  subscribe  to  his  opinion, 
that  the  poet  lost  his  senses  on  account  of  the  objections  made  to  his 
Jerusalem  [chap.  xv.  vol-  ii.  p.  91.]  The  biographer  presumes  him  posi- 
tively mad,  and  argues  on  his  case  out  of  Pinel  and  Haslam,  and  others 
[chap.  xii.  vol.  i.  p.  808.]  On  this  ground  he  supposes  the  harsh  con- 
duct of  the  duke  was  adopted  as  necessary  for  the  cure  of  Tasso  [chap. 
XV.  vol.  ii.  p-87,  and  chap,  xvi,  vol.  ii.  p.  113  :]  and,  if  his  meaning  has  not 
been  mistaken,  he  almost  apologizes  for  the  prescription  of  Alfonso.  It 
is  no  objection  to  Dr.  Black's  work,  that  the  biographical  details  are  trans- 
cribed from  Serassi :  but  this  circumstance  must  excuse  the  writer  from 
having  cited  the  original  rather  thin  the  English  author. 


18 

of  cardinals,  is  sufiiciently  apparent  to  confirm  our  suspicion 
of  Alfonso's  tyranny.  The  Duke  had  not  the  excuse  of  Tas- 
so's  presumption  in  aspiring  to  the  love  of  the  princely  Leo- 
nora. The  far-famed  kiss  is  certainly  an  invention,  although 
not  of  a  modern  date.  The  English  were  taught  by  a  cotem- 
porary  writer  to  believe  that  the  Lydian  boy  and  the  goddess 
of  Antium  had  precipitated  Torquato  into  his  dungeon,*  and 
Manso  hinted  the  same  probability,  but  with  much  circum- 
spection. The  tale  was  at  last  openly  told  in  "  The  Three 
Gondolas,^''  a  little  work,  published  in  1662,  by  Girolamo 
Brusoni,  at  Venice,  and  immediately  suppressed.!  Leonora 
of  Este  was  thirty  years  old  when  Tasso  came  to  Ferrara ; 
and  this  perhaps,  notwithstanding  that  serene  brow,  where 
Love  all  armed  was  wont  to  expatiate,  reconciled  him  to  the 
reverence  and  wonder  which  succeeded  to  the  first  feelings 
of  admiration  and  delight.|  It  is  true  that  neither  her  age, 
nor  the  vermilion  cloud  which  obscured  the  eyes  of  Lucre- 
tia,§  rendered  his  Muse  less  sensible  to  the  pleasure  of  being 
patronised  by  the  illustrious  sisters.  Perhaps  his  intercourse 
with  them  was  not  altogether  free  from  that  inclination  which 

*  Mutis  ahditiis  ac  nigris  tenebris 
In  quas  prsecipitem  dedere  caeci 
Infans  Lydius,  Antiique  Diva; 
See  some  Hendecasyllables  of  Scipio  Gentilis.  Serassi  la  Vita  del  Tasso, 
iLc.  lib.  iii.  p.  Si.  torn.  ii. 

f  Serassi  calls  it  an  operaccia.  La  Vita,  &tc.  lib.  ii.  p.  169.  torn.  i.    Mu- 
ratori  in  his  letter  to  Apostolo  Zeno,  p.  240.  loc  cit.  tells  the  story  from 
Carretta,  who  had  heard  it  from  Tassoni ;  and  though  he  hesitates  about 
the  kiss,  seems  to  believe  Tasso  was  in  love  with  Leonora,  p.  242.    Mr. 
Gibbon  [Antiquities  of  the  House  of  Brunswick,  p.  693.]  turns  the  story 
to  good  account — he  believes  and  makes  a  period. 
f  E  certo  il  primo  di,  che  '1  bel  sereno 
Delia  tua  fronte  agli  ochi  miei  s'  offerse, 
E  vidi  armato  spaziarvi  1'  Amore, 
Se  non  che  riverenza  allor  converse 
E  meraviglia  in  fredda  selce  il  seno 
Ivi  peria  con  doppia  morte  il  core. 

Canzone.    La  Vita,  he.  lib.  ii. 
p.  148.  torn  i. 

^  Questa  nebbia  si  bclla  e  si  vermiglia. 

Tass.  Oper.  vol.  vi.  p.  27. 
I-.a  Vita,  Sic.  lib.  ii.  p.  150.  torn.  i. 


19 

the  charms  of  any  female  might  readily  excite  in  a  tempera- 
ment too  warm  to  be  a  respecter  of  persons.  But  his  heart 
was  devoted  to  humbler  and  younger  beauties  5  and  more 
particularly  to  Lucretia  Bendedio,  who  had  also  to  rank  the 
author  of  the  Pastor  Fido  amongst  her  immortal  suitors.*  Of 
this  passion  the  princess  Leonora  was  the  confidante,  and  as- 
pired to  the  cure,  by  the  singnlar  expedient  of  persuading 
him  to  become  the  encomiast  of  one  of  his  rivals.!  It  appears 
then  that  the  biographer  is  justified  in  exclaiming  against  the 
scandal,  which  is  incompatible  with  the  rank  and  piety  of  a 
princess  who  was  a  temple  of  honour  and  chastity,  and  a 
single  prayer  of  whom  rescued  Ferrara  from  the  anger  of 
heaven  and  the  inundation  of  the  Po.|  It  is,  also,  but  too 
certain  that  Leonora  deserted  the  poet  in  the  first  days  of  his 
distress ;  and  it  is  equally  known  that  Tasso,  who  would  not 
have  forgotten  an  early  flame,  did  not  hang  a  single  garland 
on  the  bier  of  his  supposed  mistress. § 

The  biographer  has  left  it  without  doubt  that  the  first  cause 
of  the  punishment  of  Tasso  was  his  desire  to  be  occasionally, 
or  altogether,  free  from  his  servitude  at  the  court  of  Alfonso, 
and  that  the  immediate  pretext  of  his  imprisonment  was  no 
other  than  disrespectful  mention  of  the  Duke  and  his  court. 
In  1575  he  resolved,  notwithstanding  the  advice  of  the 
Dutchess  of  Urbino,  to  visit  Rome,  and  enjoy  the  indulgence 
of  the  jubilee,  and  this  "  error  increasing  the  suspicion  already 
entertained  at  court,  that  he  was  in  search  of  another  ser- 
vice," was  the  origin  of  his  misfortunes. ||     Alfonso  detained 

*  La  Vita,  Uc.  lib.  ii.  p.  157.  torn.  i. 
j  La  Vita,  ut  sup.    Pigna  was  this  rival. 

\  Quando  del  P6  tremar  1'  altere  sponde 
Ferrara  dannegiando  e  dentro,  e  fuora; 
Un  sol  prego  di  te,  casta  Leonora, 
Spense  1'  ire  del  ciel  giuste  e  profonde. 

Sonetto  di  Filippo  Binasciii. 
See  La  Vita,  &c.  lib.  ii.  p.  170.  torn.  i. 

5^  La  Vita,  &c.  lib.  iii.  pp.  12,  48,  50.  torn.  ii. 

II  "  Perciocchfe  da  un  si  fatto  errore  si  pu6  dir  die  avessero  origine  le 
sue  disavventure,  essendosi  con  ci6  accresciuto  a  dimisura  il  sospetto,  che 
gia  si  aveva  alia  corte,  eh'  pgli  cercasse  altro  servizio." — La  Vita,  Sec.  lib. 
ii.  pp.  232, 233.  torn.  i. 

.3 


20 

him  at  Feiraia  hy  the  expectation  of  unrcaHzed  favours,*  and 
also  hy  withholding  his  Jerusalem,  which  he  would  not  allow 
the  author  to  cany  with  him  to  Venice,  nor,  although  he  had 
promised  the  delivery  of  the  manuscript  to  Cardinal  Albani, 
would  consent  to  restore  after  the  flight  of  Tasso  to  Rome.t 
An  habitual  melancholy,  a  morbid  sensibility,  irritated  by 
the  injuries  of  his  rivals  and  the  treachery  of  his  friends,  had 
driven  him  into  an  excess  against  an  individual  of  the  court: 
but  Alfonso  did  not  punish  him  for  drawing  his  knife :  he  was 
merely  confined  to  his  apartment,  and  from  this  confinement 
and  the  medicine,  which  he  equally  dreaded,  found  means  to 
escape.l  But  he  felt  an  anxiety  to  recover  his  manuscript, 
and,  although  the  Cardinal  Albano  and  Scipio  Gonzaga  dis- 
suaded him  from  trusting  himself  at  the  court  of  Alfonso,  re- 
turned to  Ferrara.  lie  there  found  that  the  Jerusalem  had 
been  put  into  other  hands,  and  that  the  Duke,  after  refusing 
to  hear  him  mention  the  subject,  denied  him,  at  last,  all  access 
to  himself  and  the  priiicesses.  The  biographer  presumes 
that  this  treatment  is  to  be  partly  charged  upon  the  poet,  who, 
instead  of  putting  himself  into  a  course  of  medicine,  ate  and 
drank  to  excess ;  but  he  candidly  owns  that  Tasso  had  a  right 
to  his  own  property,  the  fruits  of  his  own  genius. §  He  again 
retired,  and  again  returned,  in  opposition  to  the  entreaties  of 
the  Marquis  Philip  of  Este,  and  others,  who  were  better  ac- 

*  "  II  Diica  m'  hfi  fatto  molti  favori,  ma  io  vorrei  frutti  e  non  fiori." — 
In  a  letter  from  Tasso  to  Scalabrino.     La  Vita,  &c.  lib.  ii.  p.  245.  torn.  i. 

t  "  Forse  perche  incresceva  al  duca  e  alle  principesse  il  perdere  dopo 
la  persona  del  poeta  anche  i  suoi  pregiati  componimenti." — An  innocent 
observation  of  the  Abate's.     La  Vita,  &,c  lib.  iii.  p.  7.  torn.  i. 

I  "  Intanto  il  Tasso  cominci6  a  lasciarsi  purgare,  ma  di  malissirao 
animo."  La  Vita,  he-  lib.  ii.  p.  283.  torn.  i.  Poor  Tasso  thought  the  ex- 
cellence of  a  physician  consisted  in  prescribing  medicines  not  only  saluti- 
ferous  but  agreeable :  "  Perche  come  V.  S.  sa,  1'  eccellenza  de'  medici 
tonsiste  in  buona  parte  in  dar  le  medicine  non  solo  salutifere,  ma  piace- 
vole." — Tass.  Oper.  vol.  x.  p.  360.  Lettera  a  Biaggio  Bernard!.  La  Vita, 
fee.  lib.  iii.  p.  81.  torn.  ii. 

^  "Per  altro  sebbene  sia  da  credersi  che  molte  di  si  fatte  cose  fossero 
soltanto  effetto  della  sua  imaginazione,  e  ch'  egli  anzi  avesse  irritato  quell' 

ottimo  principe  col  non  aver  voluto  prestarsi  afl  una  purga  rigorosa 

ad  '.'gni  modo  sembra,  che  se  gli  >iovesse  almeno  restituire  il  suo  poema." 
La  Vita,  &tc  lib.  iii.  p.  13.  torn.  ii. 


21 

quainted  than  himself  with  the  character  of  Alfonso.*  The 
Duke  now  refused  to  admit  him  to  an  audience.  He  was  re- 
pulsed from  the  houses  of  all  the  dependants  of  the  court;  and 
not  one  of  the  promises  which  the  Cardinal  Albano  had  ob- 
tained for  him  were  carried  into  eifcct.  Then  it  was  that 
Tasso,  "after  having  suffered  these  hardships  with  patience 
for  some  time,  seeing  himself  constantly  discountenanced  by 
the  Duke  and  the  princesses,  abandoned  by  his  friends,  and 
derided  by  his  enemies,  could  no  longer  contain  himself 
within  the  bounds  of  moderation,  but  giving  vent  to  his  choler, 
publicly  broke  forth  into  the  most  injurious  expressions  ima- 
ginable, both  against  the  Duke  and  all  the  house  of  Este,  as 
well  as  against  the  principal  lords  of  the  court,  cursing  his  past 
service,  and  retracting  all  the  praises  he  had  evQr  given  in  his 
verses  to  those  princes,  or  to  any  individual  connected  with 
them,  declaring  that  they  were  all  a  "  gang  of  poltroons,  in- 
grates,  and  scoundrels."  These  are  the  words  of  Serassi;t 
and  for  this  offence  was  Tasso  arrested,  and  instead  of  being 
punished,  such  is  the  hint  of  his  biographer,  was,  by  his  "ge- 
nerous and  magnanimous"  sovereign,  conducted  to  the  hos- 
pital of  St.  Anna,  and  confined  in  a  solitary  cell  as  a  madman. 
From  repeated  passages  in  his  letters,  from  the  intercessions 
made  in  his  favour  by  so  many  of  the  Italian  potentates,!  from 
the  condition  annexed  to  his  release,  by  which  the  Duke  of 
Mantua  stipulated  that  he  would  guarantee  against  any  lite- 
rary reprisals  from  the  poet  against  his  persecutor,§  there 
can  be  no  doubt  but  that  these  injurious  expressions,  and 
these  alone,  were  the  cause  of  the  con  uiement  of  Tasso:  so 
that,  as  the  unwillingly  convinced  biographer  is  obliged  to  ex- 

*  La  Vita,  &.c.  lib.  iii.  p,  31.  torn.  ii. 

t  "  Che  tutti  in  quel  momento  space  io  per  una  ciurma  di  poltroni,  in- 
grati,  e  ribaldi."     La  Vita,  &.c.  lib.  iii.  p.  33.  torn.  ii. 

I  La  Vita,  fcc.  lib.  iii,  p.  128.  torn.  ii.  Bergamo  tempted  Alfonso  by 
the  present  of  an  antique  fragment,  p.  1£8.  ut  sup. 

b  "  Ma  riflettendo,  che  i  poeti  sono  di  loro  natura  genus  irritahiie,  e  te- 
mendo  perciocheTorquato,  trovandosi  libero,  non  volesse  coll'  armi  for- 
midabili  della  sua  penna  vendicarsi  ildla  lunga  prigionia,  e  de'  uiali  trat- 
tamenti  ricevuti  a  quella  corte,  non  sapea  risolversi  a  lasciarlo  uscire  da' 
suoi  stati,  senza  prima  essere  assicurato,  ch'  ei  non  tenterehbe  cosa  alcuna 
contro  r  onore  e  la  riverenza  dovuta  a  un  si  gran  principe  com'  egli 
era.'' — La  Vita,  kc.  lib.  iii.  p.  128.  torn.  ii. 


22 

claim,  it  appears  extraordinary  that  so  many  fables  should 
have  been  dreamt  of  to  account  for  the  motive  of  his  long  im- 
prisonment.* Had  that  which  Montaigne  called  "  his  fatal 
vivacity"  directed  itself  against  any  others  than  the  Duke 
and  court  of  Ferrara,  or  had  it  preyed,  as  the  Frenchman 
thought,  upon  himself  alone,t  a  prison  would  not  have  been 
the  prescription  for  such  harmless  extravagance. 

It  has  been  before  mentioned  that  he  was  only  nine  months 
in  the  first  dungeon  allotted  to  his  crime,  or,  as  his  tyrant 
called  it,  his  cure;  but  to  one  whose  disease  was  a  dread  of 
solitude,  and  whose  offence  was  a  love  of  liberty,  the  hos- 
pital of  St.  Anna  was,  of  itself,  a  dungeon.  J  It  is  certain  that 
for  nearly  the  first  year  he  endured  all  the  horrors  of  a  solitary 
sordid  cell,  and  that  he  was  under  the  care  of  a  gaoler  whose 
chief  virtue,  although  he  was  a  poet  and  a  man  of  letters,  was 
a  cruel  obedience  to  the  commands  of  his  prince. §  Whatever 
occasional  alleviations  were  allowed  to  his  distress,  he  was 
a  prisoner  to  the  last  day  of  his  abode  in  the  hospital,  and  he 
felt  that  there  was  perpetually  a  door  barred  between  him 
and  the  rehef  of  his  body  and  his  soul.||     His  misfortune  was 

*  "  Cosicchfe  sembra  cosa  strana,  come  altri  abbia  potuto  sognare  tante 
favole,  come  si  e  fatto  intorno  al  raotivo  della  sua  lunga  prigionia."  La 
Vita,  &c.  lib.  iii,  p.  34.  torn.  ii. 

f  "  N'  a  t'  ii  pas  de  quoi  savoir  grfe  a  cette  sienne  vivacite  meurtrifere,'' 
Uc.  &c.     Essais,  &,c.  liv.  ii.  cap.  xii.  p.  214.  torn.  ii.  edit,  stereot.  1811. 

X  "  E  '1  timor  di  continua  prigionia  molto  accresce  la  naia  mestizia  ;  e 
1'  accresce  1'  indegnita,  che  mi  conviene  usare  ;  e  lo  squallore  della  barba. 
e  delle  chiome,  e  degli  abiti,  e  la  sordidezza,  e  '1  succidume  fieramente 
m'  annojano:  esovra  tutto  m'  afflige  la  solitudine,  miacrudele  e  natural 
nemica,  della  quale  anco  nel  mio  buono  stato  era  talvolta  cosi  molestato 
che  in  ore  intempestive  m'  andava  cercando,  o  andava  ritrovando  com- 
pagnia."  Letter  from  Tasso  to  Scipio  Gonzaga.  Oper.  vol.  x.  p.  386 
La  Vita,  fcc.  lib.  iii.  p.  35.  torn.  ii. 

^  "  Sed  neque  cui  parvo  est  virtus  in  corpore  major 
"  Mustius,  obsequiis  intentus  principis  usque." 
His  name  was  Agostino  Mosti.  See  La  Vita,  k,c.  lib.  iii.  p.  38.  torn.  ii. 
Tasso  saj's  of  him,  in  a  letter  to  his  sister,  "ed  usa  meco  ogni  sortedi 
rigore  ed  inumanit^."  See  Opera,  vol.  ix.  p.  183,  and  La  Vita,  kc.  lib. 
iii.  p.  40.  torn.  ii.  Baruffaldi  tries  to  defend  him,  by  saying  that  Tasso  was 
guilty  of  high  treason,  and  Mosti  was  only  doing  his  duty.  Vita  di  M.  L. 
Ariosto,  nb.  iii.  p.  244.  This  avowal  is  every  thing  for  the  point  wished 
to  be  proved. 

(1  "  O  Signor  Maurizio,  quando  sara  quel  giorno  ch'  io  possa  respirar 


23 

rather  aggravated  than  diminished  by  the  repeated  expecta- 
tions held  out  to  him  of  approaching  hberation.  His  calami- 
ties gathered  upon  him  with  his  confinement,  and  at  no  time 
was  his  condition  more  deplorable  than  in  the  last  months  of 
his  detention.*  Amongst  the  diseases  of  his  body  and  his 
mind,  the  desire  and  despair  of  freedom  so  constantly  preyed 
upon  him,  that  when  the  order  for  his  departure  had  been  ob- 
tained, his  friends  were  cautious  not  to  communicate  the  glad 
tidings  to  him  too  abruptly,  for  fear  of  some  fatal  revulsion. 
We  must  then  deduct  something  from  the  harmonious  praise 
which  our  eloquent  and  courtly  countryman  claims  for  the 
splendid  patronage  of  the  house  of  Este.  The  liberality,  the 
taste,  the  gratitude  of  Cardinal  Hippolyto,  may  be  collected 
from  the  poet  whom  he  degraded  into  a  courier,  whose  Or- 
lando he  derided,  and  whose  services  he  requited  with  dis- 
dainful neglect.!  The  magnificence  of  his  brother,  the  duke, 
assigned  to  Ariosto  a  pension  of  21  lu-e  a  month,  and  food  for 
three  servants  and  two  horses;  a  salary  with  wliich  the  poet 

sotto  il  cielo  aperto,  e  che  non  mi  veda  sempre  un  uscio  serrato  davanti, 
quando  mi  pare  di  aver  bisogno  del  medico  o  del  confessore.''  This  pa- 
thetic letter  was  written  to  his  friend  Cataneo  a  few  months  before  hif 
release.     Opera,  vol.  ix.  p.  367.     La  Vita,  lib.  iii.  p.  139.  torn.  ii. 

*  "  Sappia  che  per  1'  infermita  di  moiti  anni  sono  smemoratissimo  e 
per  questa  cagione  dolentissimo,  benche  non  sia  questa  sola  ec,  c'  i  la  de- 
bolezza  di  tutti  i  sensi  e  di  tutte  le  membra,  e  quasi  la  vechiezza  venuta 
innanzi  a<;li  anni,  e  la  prigionia,  e  1'  ignoranza  delle  cose  del  mondo,  e  la 
solitudinc,  la  quale  ^  misera  e  nojosa  oltre  1'  altre,  raassimamente  s'  ella 
non  6  d'  uomini,  ma  d'  amici."  A  solitude  to  which  all  the  unhappy  are 
condemned.  Letter  to  Monsig.  Papio.  dated  Sept.  1585.  Opera,  vol.  r. 
p.  313.     La  Vita,  Ub.  iii.  p.  133. 

X  Non  mi  lascio  fermar  molto  in  un  luogo 
E  di  poeta  cavallar  mi  feo. 

Ariost.  Sat.  vi. 
Jtfessej"  Ludovico  dove  avete  mm  trovate  tante  fanfalmhe  ?  was  the  famous 
speech  of  the  cardinal  to  Ariosto  on  first  reading  the  Orlando.  Hipolyto 
dismissed  him  from  his  service  without  any  recompense :  he  had  before 
encouraged Ih.^  contiposition  of  the  Orlando,  by  telling  the  author,  "che 
sarebbegli  stato  assai  pi<i  caro  che  avesse  atteso  a  servirlo.''  See  the  be- 
fore cited  La  Vita  di  M.  Ludovica  Ariosio  scritta  dalV  Abate  Girolamo 
Baruffaldi  Giuniore.  Ferrara  mdcccviii.  lib.  ii.pp.  119,  120.  lib.  iii.  pp. 
174,  177.  The  Abate,  under  the  late  government,  could  afford  to  give  an 
honest  character  of  this  Pxirple  Macenns — and  has  done  it 


24 

would  have  been  contented  had  it  been  paid.*  But  our  histo- 
rian has  stepped  beyond  the  bounds  of  panegjTic  in  ascribing 
the  Orlando  to  the  favour  of  the  first  Alfonso.t  The  immor- 
tal poem  struggled  into  life  under  the  barren  shade  of  the 
Cardinal  Hippolyto,  and  the  author  derived  no  other  benefit 
from  its  second  appearance,  under  the  auspices  of  the  court 
of  Ferrara,  than  the  sale  of  a  hundred  copies  for  eight  and 
tAventj  crowns,  j  The  obligations  of  the  Jerusalem  Delivered 
to  fhe  second  Alfonso,  may  have  been  already  apprec  ated. 
They  consisted  in  the  seven  years  imprisonment  of  the  author, 
and  the  surreptitious  publication  of  a  mutilated  manuscript. 
The  princes  of  Italy  were  not  deficient  in  a  fruitless  deference 
to  the  claims  of  literature :  this  was  the  taste  of  the  age,  and 
they  divided  that  merit  with  the  accomplished  highwaymen 
of  the  day.§  They  regarded  a  man  of  letters  as  a  necessary 
appendage  to  their  dignity,  and  a  poet  was  the  more  che- 
rished as  he  was  the  oftener  employed  in  recording  the 
triumphs  of  his  protecting  court.  The  muse  was  encouraged 
and  confined  to  her  laureate  duties,  and  so  carefully  was  her 
gratitude  secured,  and  her  recompense  so  exactly  weighed, 
that  the  day  before  the  Prince  of  Mantua  obtained  the  libera- 
tion of  Tasso,  he  commanded  the  captive  to  compose  a  copy 
of  verses  as  an  earnest,  it  should  seem,  of  more  elaborate 
eflforts.|l  The  same  prince  imitated  the  example  of  Alfonso 
in  retaining  the  manuscripts  of  our  poet,  as  a  pledge  for  his 
future  attachment  to  the  house  of  Gonzaga ;  and  having  as- 
signed him  a  small  sum  for  his  immediate  exigencies,  would 
not  allow  him  to  purchase  clothes  unless  he  would  consent 
to  wear  them  out  in  the  duties  of  the  Mantuan  court.     A 

*  See  Ariosto  Satir.  ad  Annibale  Malaguzzo,  and  La  Vita,  &,c.  iib.  iii. 
p.  184. 

f  "  Ferrara  may  boast  that  in  her  classic  ground  Ariosto  and  Tasso 
lived  and  sung  ;  that  the  lines  of  the  Orlando  Furioso,  and  of  the  Jerusa- 
lem Delivered,  were  inscribed  in  everlasting  characters  under  the  eye  of 
the  first  and  second  Alfonso." 

See  Gibbon's  Antiquities  of  the  House  of  Brunswick,  edit,  cit-  p.  694. 

X  La  Vitadi  M.  Lndovico  Ariosto,  &c.  lib.  iii.  p.  136. 

v^  See  the  adventure  of  Ariosto  with  Filippo  Pachione.  La  Vita  di 
M.  L.  Ariosto,  fee.  lib-  iii.  p.  187,  and  that  of  Tasso  withMarco  di  Sciarra. 
La  Vita  del  Tasso,  &.c.  lib.  iii.  p.  229.  torn.  ii. 

[j  La  Vita,  &ic.  lib.  iii.  p.  144.  torn.  ii. 


25 

thousand  traits  in  the  life  of  Tasso  serve  to  show  that  genius 
was  considered  the  property,  not  of  the  individual,  but  his 
patron ;  and  that  the  reward  allotted  for  this  appropriation 
was  dealt  out  with  jealous  avarice.  The  author  of  the  Jcra- 
salem,  when  he  was  at  the  height  of  his  favour  at  the  court 
of  Ferrara,  could  not  redeem  the  covering  of  his  body  and 
bed,  which  he  was  obliged  to  leave  in  pledge  for  13  crowns 
and  45  lire  on  accompanying  the  cardinal  of  Este  to  France. 
This  circumstance  appears  from  a  testamentary  document 
preserved  in  manuscript  in  the  public  library  of  Ferrara, 
which  is  imperfectly  copied  into  the  Life  of  Tasso,*  and  the 
following  letter!  is  extracted  from  the  same  collection  of  auto- 
graphs as  a  singular  exemphfication  of  what  has  been  before 
said  of  princely  patronage. 

My  Magnificent  Lord, 

I  send  your  lordship  five  shirts,  all  of  which 
want  mending.  Give  them  to  your  relation^  and  let  him  knozo 
that  I  do  not  wish  them  to  be  mixed  zoith  the  others  ;  and  that 
he  v)dl  gratify  me  by  coming  one  day  with  you  to  see  me.  In 
the  mean  zohile  I  wait  for  that  answer  which  your  lordship  pro- 
mised to  solicit  for  me.  Put  your  friend  in  mind  of  it.  I  kiss 
your  lordship'' s  hand. 

Your  very  faithful  servant, 

ToRQUATO  Tasso. 
From  S.  Armu,  the  4th  of  Jan.  1585. 

If  you  cannot  come  zoith  your  relation,  come  alone.  I  want 
to  speak  to  you.  And  get  the  cloth  washed  in  which  the  shirts 
are  wrapped  up. 

To  the  very  Magnificent  Lord, 
The  Signor  Luca  Scalabrino. 

*  Lib.  ii.  p.  171.  torn.  1.  Serassi  had  not  seen  the  original,  but  copied 
from  a  copy — the  list  of  goods  in  pawn  is  left  out. 

t  At  the  end  of  these  notices,  will  be  seen  the  original  and  the  other 
Ferrara  MSS.  which  have  never  been  published  entirely  or  correctly. 
Dr.  Black  has  followed  some  incorrect  writer  in  saying;  that  Tasso's  hand- 
writing "  was  small  and  almost  illegible."  [Chap.  xxiv.  vol.  ii.  pp.  344, 
S45.]  That  it  was  large  and  very  legible  will  be  seen  from  a  fac-simile 
of  an  autograph  in  possession  of  the  writer,  also  subjoined. 


26 

Such  was  the  condition  of  him  who  thought  that,  besides 
God,  to  the  poet  alone  belonged  the  name  of  creator,  and 
who  was  also  persuaded,  that  he  himself  was  the  first  Italian 
of  that  divine  race.*  Those  who  indulge  in  the  dreams  of 
earthly  retribution  will  observe,  that  the  cruelty  of  Alfonso 
was  not  left  without  its  recompense,  even  in  his  own  person. 
He  survived  the  affection  of  his  subjects  and  of  his  dependants, 
who  deserted  him  at  his  death,  and  suffered  his  body  to  be  in- 
terred without  princely  or  decent  honours.  His  last  wishes 
were  neglected;  his  testament  cancelled.  His  kinsman  Don 
Caesar  shrank  from  the  excommunication  of  the  Vatican,  and 
after  a  short  struggle,  or  rather  suspense,  Ferrara  passed  away 
for  ever  from  the  dominion  of  the  house  of  Este.t 

Stanza  XXXV. 
Ferrara  !   in  thy  uride  and  grass-grown  streets. 

When  Tasso  arrived  in  Ferrara,  in  1565,  he  found  the  city 
one  brilliant  theatre. t  The  largest  streets  which  he  saw 
thronged  with  all  the  forms  of  gayety  and  splendour,  are  now 
almost  untrodden,  and  support  a  few  paupers  in  the  fruitless 
attempt  to  eradicate  the  grass  and  weeds.  The  cutting  the 
canal  from  the  Reno  to  the  Po,  and  the  saltpetre  manufacto- 
ries, had  begun  to  revive  and  augment  the  languid  population. 

*  "  II  Tasso  si  levo  in  collera,  e  disse die  il  poeta  era  cosa  di- 

Tina,  e  i  Greci  il  chiaraano  con  un'  attributo  che  si  da  a  Dio,  quasi  voien- 
do  inferire,  che  nel  mondo  non  ci  fe  chi  meriti  il  nome  di  creatore,  che  Dio 
e  il  Poeta."     See  La  Vita,   Sic.  lib.  iii.  p.  262.  Monsi{;nor  de  Nores  asked 

him  who  he  thought  deserved  the  first  place,  "  fra  i  nostri  poeti 

mi  rispose,  'almio  giudizio  all' Ariosto  si  deve  il  secondo,'  e  soggiun- 
gendogli  io  subito,  '  e  il  primo  ?'  Sorrise,  e  mi  volto  le  spalle,  volendo 
credo  io  che  intendessi,  che  il  primo  lo  riserbava  a  s6."  See  La  Vita,  &tc. 
lib.  iii.  p.  262.  tom.  ii. 

t  Antichita  Estensi.  par.  ii.  cap.  13  and  14. 

X  "  II  Gianluca  ovvero  delle  raaschere."     Opere  del  Tasso,   Venice, 

1738,  vol.  viii.  pp.  4,  5.    " Quando  prima  vidi  Ferrara,  e  mi  parve, 

che  tutta  la  citta  fosse  una  maravigliosa,  e  non  piilk  veduta  scena  dipinta, 
e  luminosa,  e  piena  di  mille  forme,  e  di  mille  apparense,  e  le  azioni  di 
quel  tempo  simili  a  quelle,  che  sono  rappresentate  ne'  teatri  con  varie 
lingue,  e  con  varie  interlocutori." 


27 

The  return  of  the  legate  to  the  castle  has  confirmed  the  curse 
on  the  streets  of  Ferrara.  The  Ferrarese  subjects  of  Alfonso 
II.  must  share  in  the  disgrace  attached  to  the  imprisonment, 
for  they  contributed  to  the  persecution  of  Tasso.*  To  many 
names  now  scarcely  known  except  as  having  been  joined  in 
this  base  design,  must  be  added  those  of  Horatio  Ariosto, 
great  nephew  of  the  poet,  and  of  the  more  celebrated  Gua- 
rini.  The  disordered  fancies  of  Tasso  furnished  them  with 
the  excuse  and  with  the  means  for  his  ruin.  The  toleration 
of  the  eccentricities  of  genius  is  more  frequently  found  in  the 
language  than  the  practice  of  mankind :  and  the  natural  in- 
clination to  repel  any  assumption  or  supposition  of  exemp- 
tion from  the  common  rules  of  life,  is  not  more  hkely  to  be 
found  in  the  saloons  of  princes,  which  are  made  up  of  forms 
and  precedents,  than  in  the  lower  independent  classes  of  so- 
ciety. The  Ferrarese  appear  to  have  carried  their  com- 
plaisance to  their  sovereigns  to  an  unusual  excess  ;  for  on  the 
tower  of  the  cathedral  we  read  the  following  inscription. 

DiyO   HERCVLE  SECVN  DVCE  IMPERANTE. 

An  apotheosis,  for  which,  if  their  god  was  still  alive,  there 
is  some  doubt  whether  the  slavery  of  Imperial  Rome  can 
furnish  them  with  an  example.!  Now  it  was  one  of  the  ex- 
travagancies of  Tasso  to  discover  that  haughty  spirit  of  a 
gentleman  and  a  scholar,  which  made  him  averse  to  llattery,| 
and  to  that  self-annihilation  which  is  the  most  acceptable  qua- 

*  "  Cid  che  fe  certo  fe,  che  in  Ferrara  per  la  malvaggia  invidia  cortigi- 
ana  venne  a  formarsi  contro  il  povero  Tasso  una  specie  ili  congiura,"  &lc. 
La  Vita  del  Tasso,  Sic.  dell'  Abate  Pierantonio  Serassi,  sec.  ediz.  in 
Bergamo,  1790,  lib.  ii.  p.  259,  torn.  i. 

t  Julius  Caesar,  Caligula,  and  Domitian,  were  deified  during  their  life- 
time. See  the  question  argued  in  Donatus,  who  gives  it  against  the 
Divvs.  Roma  Vetus,  lib.  iii.  cap.  iv.  Classical  authority  excused  even  ir- 
religion.  Bembo  rejected  that  unity  uf  the  Deity  which  was  repugnant 
to  his  Ciceronian  latinity;  and,  when  writing  in  tlie  name  oftne  ;^ope, 
ascribed  his  election  to  the  chair  of  St.  Peter  to  the  favour  of  the  "  im- 
mortal gods"  deorum  iramortalium  beneficiis. 

t "  Quanto  egli  fe  piuttosto  di  sua  natura  altiero  ed  alieno  da  ogni  ter- 
mine  di  adulazione,  che  acconcio  alle  scurrilita  cortigiane."  La  Vita,  kc. 
lib.  iii.  p.  361.  tom>ii. 

4 


28 

lity  in  a  dependant.  To  this  ignorance  of  the  arts  of  courtljr 
dissimulation,  his  biographer  does  not  hesitate  to  attribute 
his  misfortunes,*  and  the  inference  must  be  dishonourable  to 
his  Ferrarese  competitors.  It  appears  that  Tasso  was  in  part 
the  victim  of  a  household  conspiracy,  formed  by  those  who 
were  totally  incapable  of  appreciating  either  his  virtues  or 
his  failings  ;  and  who  thought  themselves  interested,  if  they 
did  not  find,  to  prove  him  insane.  For  this  purpose  every 
little  extravagance  of  action  was  carefully  watched  and  noted 
down.  Not  onlj^  his  words  were  submitted  to  the  same  cha- 
ritable interpretation,  but  his  thoughts  were  scrutinized,  and 
in  pursuit  of  the  same  evidence  of  his  derangement  and  dis- 
affection to  his  duties,  his  books,  his  papers,  and  his  corres- 
pondence were  explored  in  those  repositories  which  are  safe 
against  all  but  domestic  treachery  ;t  affection  for  his  person, 
and  admiration  for  his  talents,  were  the  pretext  for  every  pro- 
ceeding against  his  liberty  and  his  fame  ;  and  so  far  did  this 
insulting  hypocrisy  proceed,  that  a  report  was  industriously 
spread,  that  it  was  the  kind  resource  of  pity  to  pronounce  him 
not  guilty  but  mad.  This  rumour  caused  and  excused  the  de- 
sertion of  one  whose  relief  seemed  hopeless.  Remonstrance 
was  an  aggravation,  concession  a  proof,  of  his  delinquency. 
Both  were  unavailing,  and  the  voice  of  friendship  could  give 
no  other  counsel  than  to  be  silent  and  to  submit.  His  disaster 
was  considered  as  his  decease ;  and  his  cotemporaries 
usurped  and  abused  the  rights  of  posterity.  Compositions, 
some  unfinished,  and  none  of  them  intended  for  the  light, 
were  devoted  to  the  greedy  gains  of  literary  pirates  ;  and  on 
such  documents,  no  less  garbled  than  the  representation  of 
his  actions,  did  his  enemies  proceed  to  judgment.  These 
calamities  would  have  overwhelmed  guilt,  and  might  confound 
innocence.  But  the  tried  affection  of  an  only  sister,  the  un- 
shaken though  unserviceable  regard  of  former  associates,  and 
more  than  all,  his  own  unconquerable  mind,  supplied  the  mo- 
tive and  the  means  of  resistance.  He  had  lost  the  hope  of 
mercy,  he  cherished  the  expectation  of  justice.     This  con- 

*  La  Vita,  &c.  p.  277. 

t  Ibid.  lib.  ii.  p.  258.  torn.  i.    Plutarch  tells  us  that  Romulus  allowed 
only  three  causes  of  dirorce,  drunkenness,  adultery,  and  false  keys. 


29 

fidence  preserved  the  principle  of  life  ;  and  the  sensibility  of 
misfortune  gave  an  irresistible  edge  and  temper  to  his  facul- 
ties whenever  his  spirit  emerged  from  distress.  The  rays  of 
his  genius  could  not  dissipate,  but  they  burst,  at  intervals, 
through  the  gloom  of  his  seclusion,  and  his  countrymen  soon 
found  that  their  poet,  although  hidden  from  their  sight,  was 
still  high  above  the  horizon. 

Stanza  LIV. 

Here  repose 
Angela's,  AlfierVs  bones,  Sfc. 

The  following  anecdotes  of  Alfieri  are  from  an  authentic 
source,  and  appear  worthy  record.  The  poet  was  one 
evening  at  the  house  of  the  Princess  Carignani,  and  leaning, 
in  one  of  his  silent  moods,  against  a  sideboard  decorated  with 
a  rich  tea-service  of  china,  by  a  sudden  movement  of  his 
long  loose  tresses,  threw  down  one  of  the  cups.  The  lady 
of  the  mansion  ventured  to  tell  him  that  he  had  spoilt  her 
set,  and  had  better  have  broken  them  all ;  but  the  words  were 
no  sooner  said,  than  Alfieri,  without  replying  or  changing 
countenance,  swept  off  the  whole  service  upon  the  floor. 
His  hair  was  fated  to  bring  another  of  his  eccentricities  into 
play  ;  for,  being  alone  at  the  theatre  at  Turin,  and  hanging 
carelessly  with  his  head  backwards  over  the  corner  of  his  box, 
a  lady  in  the  next  seat  on  the  other  side  of  the  partition,  who 
had,  on  other  occasions,  made  several  attempts  to  attract  his 
attention,  broke  into  violent  and  repeated  encomiums  on  his 
auburn  locks,  which  were  flowing  down  close  to  her  hand. 
Alfieri  spoke  not  a  word,  and  continued  in  his  posture  until 
he  left  the  theatre.  The  lady  received  the  next  morning  a 
parcel,  the  contents  of  which  she  found  to  be  the  tresses  she 
had  so  much  admired,  and  which  the  count  had  cut  off  close 
to  his  head.  There  was  no  billet  with  the  present,  but  words 
could  not  have  more  clearly  expostulated,  "  If  you  like  the 
hair,  here  it  is,  but  for  heaveri's  sake  leave  me  alone.'^'' 

Alfieri  employed  a  respectable  young  man  at  Florence  to 
assist  him  in  his  Greek  translations,  and  the  manner  in  which 
that  instruction  was  received  was  not  a  little  eccentric.     The 


30 

tutor  slowly  read  aloud  and  translated  the  tragedian,  and  AU 
fieri,  with  his  pencil  and  tablets  in  hand,  walked  about  the 
room  and  put  down  his  version.  This  he  did  without  speak- 
ing a  word,  and  when  he  found  his  preceptor  reciting  too 
quickly,  or  when  he  did  not  understand  the  passage,  he  held 
up  his  pencil, — this  was  the  signal  for  repetition,  and  the  last 
sentence  was  slowly  recited,  or  the  reading  was  stopped,  un- 
til a  tap  from  the  poet's  pencil  on  the  table  warned  the  trans- 
lator that  he  might  continue  his  lecture.  The  lesson  began 
and  concluded  with  a  slight  and  silent  obeisance,  and  during 
the  twelve  or  thirteen  months  of  instruction,  the  count 
scarcely  spoke  as  many  words  to  the  assistant  of  his  studies. 
The  Countess  of  Albany,  however,  on  receiving  something 
like  a  remonstrance  against  this  reserve,  assured  the  young 
man  that  the  count  had  the  highest  esteem  for  him  and  his 
services.  But  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  master  felt 
much  regret  at  giving  his  last  lesson  to  so  Pythagorean  a  pu- 
pil. The  same  gentleman  describes  the  poet  as  one  whom  he 
had  seldom  heard  speak  in  any  company,  and  as  seldom  seen 
smile.  His  daily  temper  depended  not  a  little  upon  his  fa- 
vourite horse,  whom  he  used  to  feed  out  of  his  hand,  and 
ordered  to  be  led  out  before  him  every  morning.  If  the  ani- 
mal neighed,  or  replied  to  his  caresses  with  any  signs  of 
pleasure,  his  countenance  brightened,  but  the  insensibility  of 
the  horse,  was  generally  followed  by  the  dejection  of  the 
master. 

The  tomb  of  Alfieri  in  the  Santa  Croce,  is  one  of  the 
least  successful  productions  of  Canova.  The  whole  monu- 
ment is  heavy,  and  projects  itself  into  the  aisle  of  the 
church  more  prominently  than  becomes  the  associate  of  the 
more  modest  but  richer  sepulchres  of  Michael  Angelo  and 
Machiavelh.  The  colossal  Cybele  of  Italy  weeping  over  a 
medallion  in  low  relief,  shows  the  difficulty  of  doing  justice  to 
the  mourner  and  the  monument,  and  may  besides  be  mis- 
taken for  the  princess  of  the  house  of  Stolberg,  whose  name 
and  title  have  left  little  room  on  the  inscription  for  Alfieri 
himself.  They  show  a  little  step  opposite  to  the  monument, 
on  which  the  princess  herself  periodically  contemplates  her 
own  work  and  that  of  Canova.  The  grief  of  an  amiable 
woman  for  the  loss   ©f  an  accomplished   man.   may  be  ex- 


31 

pected  to  endure  ;  and,  to  say  the  truth,  the  other  sex  hai 
too  long  wanted  a  "  pendant"  for  the  twice  retold  tale  of  the 
Ephesian  niatron. 

Stanza  LXVI. 

But  thou,  Clitumnus,  in  thy  sweetest  wave. 

The  Clitumnus  rises  at  Le  Vene  di  Campello,  or  di  Piscig- 
tucno.  In  the  territory  of  Trevi  and  that  of  Foligno,  it  is 
called  the  "Clitunno,"  and  lower  down  in  its  course  assumes 
the  name  of  La  Timmia.  Antiquaries  have  been  careful 
to  measure  the  exact  size  of  its  original  fountain,  which  they 
find  to  be  eleven  Roman  palms  and  ten  inches  long,  and  one 
palm  seven  inches  and  a  half  wide.  This  source  pours  from 
beneath  a  blind  arch  in  the  high  road  from  Foligno  to  Spoleto, 
half  a  mile  from  the  post-house  of  Le  Vene,  and  gushing  into 
a  thousand  blue  eddies,  is  soon  lost  in  a  bed  of  giant  reeds. 
The  peasants  of  the  neighbourhood  say  that  the  stream 
has  many  fountains,  and  although  no  where  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  it  is  wider  than  a  mill-brook,  is  in  many  places  un- 
fathomable. The  Clitumnus  has  been  sung  by  most  of  the 
poets  from  Virgil  to  Claudian.  The  Umbrian  Jupiter  bore 
the  same  name;  and  either  he  or  the  river-god  himself  inspir- 
ed an  oracle  which  gave  answers  by  lots,  and  which  was  con- 
sulted by  Caligula.*  There  were  festivals  celebrated  by 
the  people  of  the  neighbouring  Hispellum  in  honour  of  this 
deity.t  When  Pliny  the  younger  saw  and  described  the  Cli- 
tumnus, the  fountain  spread  at  once  into  a  considerable  river,J 
capable  of  bearing  two  laden  boats  abreast  ;§  but  it  is  thought 
to  have  been  shrunk  by  the  great  earthquake  in  446,  which 
shook  Constantinople  for  six  months,  and  was  violently  felt  in 

*  Sueton.  in  Vita  Calig. 

t  Gori.  Mus.  Etrus.  torn.  ii.  p.  66.  "  CJitumnalia  sacra  apud  Hispel- 
lates  in  ejus  honorem  celebrata  fuisse,  constat  auctoritate  hujus  vetustae 
arse,  eidem  dedicata,  quae  inter  Gudianas  vulgata  est."  Edit.  Florent. 
1737. 

t  "  Fons  adhuc  et  jam  amplissiraum  flumen."  Epist.  ad  Romanum,  lib. 
Tiii.  epist.  viii. 

^^"Navei  amen  ne  heic  intelligas  majores  sed  scaphas  tantum."  P. 
Cluverii  Italia  Antiquae,  lib.  ii.  cap.  10.  torn.  1.  p.  702.  edit.  Elzev, 


32 

many  parts  of  Italy.  The  "  glassy  Fucine  lake,  the  sea- 
green  Anio,  the  sulphureous  Nar,  the  clear  Faberis,  and  the 
turbid  Tiber,"  are,  with  the  cold  Clitumnus,  known  to  have 
been  affected  by  this  tremendous  convulsion.*  Hence,  per- 
haps, the  holes  which  are  said  to  be  unfathomable.  It  has, 
however,  been  always  honourably  mentioned  amongst  the 
rivers  of  Italy  ;t  and  if  the  little  temple  on  its  banks  was  not 
thrown  down,  the  effects  of  the  earthquake  could  not  have  been 
very  important.  With  respect  to  this  temple,  now  a  church, 
dedicated  to  the  Saviour,  which  is  seen  a  few  paces  before  you 
come  to  the  principal  source,  some  doubts  have  been  enter- 
tained of  its  antiquity  by  a  late  English  traveller,  who  is  very 
seldom  sceptical  out  of  place,  j  Fabretti,  in  his  inscriptions, § 
had  before  asserted  that  it  had  been  built  from  ancient  frag- 
ments by  the  Christians,  who  baptized  it,  sculptured  the  grapes 
on  the  tympanum,  and  added  the  steps.  Mr.  Forsyth's 
objection  can,  however,  in  this  instance,  perhaps  be  removed 
by  the  mention  of  a  fact  with  which  he  appears  to  have  been 
unacquainted.  The  inside  of  the  temple  described  by  Pliny 
was  "  bescratched  with  the  nonsense  of  an  album,"  and  of 
this  record  no  vestiges  were  seen  by  our  acute  traveller  :  they 
could  not,  for  the  whole  of  the  interior  of  the  chapel  is  allow- 
ed to  have  been  modernized  when  the  altar  niche  was  added 
at  the  conversion  of  the  structure,  and  any  ancient  remnants 
then  left  within  were  carried  away  when  it  was  reduced  to  its 
present  appearance  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century.  The 
sculpture  of  the  columns,  singular  as  it  is,  can  scarcely  be 
made  a  valid  objection.  Palladio  calls  it  most  delicate  and 
beautifully  various,]]  and  if  what  appears  in  his  drawings  vine 

*  Sidori.  Apollinar.  lib.  i.  epist.  5. 

t  Boccaccio  de  Flum.  in  verb.  Clitum.  "  Clitumnus  Umbrise  fluvius 
apud  Mevaniana  et  Spoletum  defluens,  ex  quo  (ut  quidam  volunt,)  sicon- 
fertim  postquam  concepitboa  bibat ;  album  pariet.  Quam  ob  rem  Ro- 
mani  magnas  hostias  Jovi  immolaturi  ad  hunc  locum  per  albis  tauris 
mittebant.  Hunc  alii  fontem  alii  lacum  dicunt"  in  fin.  Lib.  de  geneal. 
deorum.  edit.  Princ. 

I  Remarks  on  Italy,  fcc.  p.  320.     Sec,  edit. 

C;  Inscrip.  p.  S8.     See  Osservazioni,  &tc.  p.  61.  ut  inf. 

|[  "  Lavorate  delicatissimamente  e  con  bella  varieta  d'intagli."  Incho- 
nog.  de'Tcmp.  lb.  iv.  p.  2.  cap.  1^5.  del  tempio  ch'  e  sotto  Trevi.  Tom. 
vi.  p.  10.  Vcn.  1745.    The  plates  are  not  at  all  recognizable. 


33 

leaves,  be  in  reality,  as  Venuti  asserts,*  and  as  they  seem  to 
be,  fish  scales,  the  workmanship  may  have  some  allusion  to  the 
river  god.  The  above  great  architect  saw  this  temple  entire, 
and  made  five  designs  of  it.t  What  remains,  which  is  only 
the  western  portico  and  the  exterior  of  the  cell,  is  certainly  a 
part  of  the  temple  seen  by  him,  and  called  by  Cluverius  one 
of  the  Fanes  of  Jupiter  Clitumnus.J  It  appears  the  Fane 
preserved  the  form  copied  by  Palladio  down  to  1730,  when 
an  earthquake  broke  off  apiece  of  the  cornice,  and  even  in 
1739  it  had  not  been  reduced  to  the  ruin  in  which  Venuti  saw 
it,  and  which  seems  to  differ  but  little  from  its  present  con- 
dition.§  The  chapel  belonged  formerly  to  the  community  of 
Trevi,  but  about  the  year  1420  they  lost  it  together  with  the 
castle  of  Piscignano,  and  it  became  a  simple  ecclesiastical  be- 
nefice of  ten  or  twelve  crowns  annual  rent  attached  to  the 
Dateria  at  Rome.  In  1 730  it  was  intrusted  to  a  brother  Hila- 
rion,  who,  under  the  pretext  of  repairing  it,  made  a  bargain 
with  Benedetti  bishop  of  Spolcto,  to  furnish  him  with  a  por- 
tion of  the  columns  and  marbles  for  three  and  twenty  crowns. 
The  community  of  Piscignano  opposed  this  spoliation  for 
some  time,  and  an  order  was  even  procured  from  Pope  Cle- 
ment XII.  to  prevent  it.  But  Monsignore  Ancajani,  tbea 
bishop  of  Spoleto,  confirmed  the  sale,  laughed  at  the  injunc- 
tion, and  said  the  marbles  were  but  old  stones  ;||  consequently 
the  hermit,  brother  Paul,  who  had  been  left  by  Hilarion,  fell 
to  work,  demolished  great  part  of  the  porticoes,  and  sold 
four  of  the  columns  for  eighteen  crowns  to  the  Signore  Fon- 
tani  of  Spoleto,  who  used  them  in  building  a  family  chapel  in 

*  Osservazioni  sopra  il  fiume  Clitunno,  dall'  Abate  Rldolpho  Venuti, 
Cortoneae,  a  Roma,  1753. 
t  See  Ichonog.  ut  sup . 

I  P.  Cluverii  Italise  Antiquaj,  ut  sup.  Sacraria  ista  nulla  alia  fu^re, 
nisi  quae  ab  initio  ad  varios  Clitumni  fontes  variis  Jovis  Clitumni  nomini- 
bus  numinibusque  posita,  ea  baud  dubie  postea  in  ChriStianEe  religionis 
usum  convei-sa.  His  annotator  Holstenius  also  believed  it  most  ancient, 
Annot.  ad  Cluv.  Geog-  pag.  123. 

^  "  La  facciata  che  vedesi  verso  Ponente  e  I'unica  che  sia  rimasta  illesa 
dal  furore  degl'  ignoranti."    See  ut  sup.  pag.  45. 

II  Quale  se  ne  rise,  dicendo  essere  ea^sacci,  e  scguito  il  fratc  a  dcmolire 
e  portar  via.    See  Osservazioni,  ut  sup. 


34 

the  Philippine  church  of  that  town.*  In  1748  the  same 
brother  Paul,  looking  for  a  fancied  treasure,  broke  his  way 
through  the  interior  of  the  chapel,  and  tore  up  part  of  the 
subterranean  cell,  of  which  pious  researches  there  are  the 
marks  at  this  day.  Whatever  remained  of  marble  in  the 
inside  of  the  structure  was  then  carried  away,  and  it  was  with 
much  difficulty  that  the  remaining  portico  was  saved  from  the 
hands  of  the  hermit.t  The  reader  is  requested  to  bear  in 
mind  this  transaction  of  two  bishops  and  two  holy  brothers, 
executed  in  spite  of  the  most  respectable  opposition  in  the 
middle  of  the  last  century.  It  may  assist  his  conjectures 
when  he  comes  to  estimate  the  probable  merits  of  the  Chris- 
tian clergy  who  are  said  to  have  been  so  instrumental  during 
the  dark  ages  in  preserving  the  relics  of  Rome.  The  Abate 
of  Cortona  talks  with  indignation  of  the  offence,J  and  con- 
cludes with  a  prayer  to  Benedict  the  Fourteenth  to  recover 
the  pillage,  and  replace  the  columns  and  marbles  on  their  an- 
cient base.  Indeed  the  spoilers  were  guilty  not  only  of  a 
crime  against  the  antiquary,  but  of  sacrilege.  Clitumnus 
could  not  be  expected  to  deter  brother  Hilarion  and  brother 
Paul,  but  the  name  of  our  Saviour  might.  Benedict  the 
Fourteenth  did  not  listen  to  the  Abate,  and  we  see  the 
temple  as  it  was  left  by  the  honest  hermit. 

It  should  seem  then  that  the  little  portico  and  the  form  at 
least  of  the  cell  belong  to  an  ancient  temple,  and  probably  to 
that  of  the  Clitumnus,  if  not  to  one  of  the  many  chapels 
which  were  near  the  principal  fane.§     There  were  formerly 

*  "  Distruttore  di  questa  fabbrica  e  stato  un  certo  Eremita  Chiamato 
Fra  Paolo,  che  le  ha  vendute  (4  colonne)  per  soli  diecidotto  scudi  ai  Fon- 
tanini  di  Spoleto,  che  se  ne  sono  serviti  per  fare  una  loro  cappella  in  onore 
di  St.  Filippo."  Lettera  MS.  del  conte  Giacomo  Valenti,  ap.  Venut.  os- 
servazioni,  fee.  page  49. 

+  "  .  .  .  and  the  statue  of  the  god  (the  Clitumnus)  has  yielded  its  place 
to  the  triumphant  cross.  This  circumstance  is  rather  fortunate,  as  toj  it 
the  temple  owes  its  preservation. "  Classical  Tour  through  Italy,  chap. 
ix.  torn.  1.  p.  321 .  Sd  edit.  Mr.  Eustace  was  innocent  of  all  knowledge 
of  the  above  fact :  otherwise,  though  a  zealous  crusader,  he  would  not 
have  stuck  his  triumphant  cross  on  the  Clitumnus. 

t  "  E  quelle  non  hanno  fatto  i  Goti  nelle  incursione,  I'hanno  fatto  quelli, 
che  non  s'intendono  d'antichita.     Osservazioni,  &c.  ut  sup. 

^  "  Sparsa  sunt  circa  sacella  complura."    Plin.  epist.  fcc. 


35 

vestiges  of  two  other  small  ancient  structures,*  which  had  not 
entirely  disappeared  when  Venuti  wrote,  and  had  given  to 
a  spot  above  the  church  the  name  ad  sacraria.  The  counts 
Valenti  di  Trevi  found  also  the  statue  of  a  river  god  near  the 
chapel,  and  placed  it>  in  their  collection.  Add  to  this  that 
the  naraest  still  seen  on  the  roof  of  the  subterranean  cell 
belonged  probably  to  those  who  had  consulted  the  oracle, 
and  that  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  antiquity  of  that  adytus, 
although  it  is  half  blocked  up  and  defaced  by  the  excavations 
of  brother  Paul.  The  cypress  grove  which  shaded  the  hill 
above  the  source  of  the  river  has  disappeared,  but  the  water 
still  preserves  the  ancient  property  of  producing  some  of  the 
finest  trout  to  be  met  with  in  Italy. 

Stanza  LXXVII, 

Yet  fare  thee  well ;  upon  Sorade's  ridge  we  part. 

The  pilgrim  may  take  leave  of  Horace  upon  Soracte ;  not 
so  the  antiquary,  who  pursues  him  to  the  city  and  country,  to 
Rome  and  Tivoli,  and  hunts  him  through  the  windings  of  the 
Sabine  valley,  till  he  detects  him  pouring  forth  his  flowers  over 
the  glassy  margin  of  his  Bandusian  fount.  Before,  however, 
the  discreet  traveller  girds  himself  for  such  a  tour,  he  is  re- 
quested to  lay  aside  all  modern  guide  books,  and  previously  to 
peruse  a  French  work  called  "  Researches  after  the  house  of 
Horace."  This  will  undeceive  him  as  to  the  Bandusian  foun- 
tain, which  he  is  not  to  look  for  in  the  Sabine  valley,  but  on 
the  Lucano-Appulian  border  where  Horace  was  born* 

Lucanus  an  Appulus  anceps. 

The  vicissitude  which  placed  a  priest  on  the  throne  of  the 
Caesars  has  ordained  that  a  bull  of  Pope  Paschal  the  second 
should  be  the  decisive  document  in  ascertaining  the  site  of  a 
fountain  which  inspired  an  ode  of  Horace|.     The  traveller 

*  Holstenius  Annot.  ad  Geog.  Cluv.  pag.  12S. 

f  T.  SEPTIMIVS  BIDIA.  L.  F. 

PLEBEIVS  POLLA 

The  temple  of  the  oracle  of  Memnon  in  Upper  Egypt  was  full  of  such 
inscriptions.     See  Osservazioni,  &.c.  page  56. 
4  Coafirniamu?  siquidem  robis  Csenobiuna  ipsum  et  omnia,  quae  ad 

5 


36 

must  not  be  alarmed  at  the  three  or  four  volumes  which  coiiji- 
pose  these  researches  after  a  single  house :  the  establishment 
of  identity  in  these  cases  is  absolutely  necessary  even  as  a 
basis  for  the  enthusiasm  of  v/hich  classical  recollections  arc 
the  cause,  or  at  least  the  excuse.  The  fixing  localities  and  de- 
termining the  claims  of  those  antiquities  whose  chief  interest  is 
derived  from  the  story  attached  to  them,  is  generally  supposed 
the  peculiar  province  of  dull  plodding  writers  :  but  as  the  man 
most  willing  to  give  scope  to  his  imagination  would  hardly 
choose  to  have  any  other  foundation  for  his  feeling  than  truth, 
and  as  he  would  be  incensed  at  having  been  entrapped  by  an 
ignorant  enthusiastic  declaimer  into  an  admiration  of  objects 
whose  authenticity  may  be  questioned  by  the  first  cool  ex- 
aminant,  it  is  but  fair  that  he  should  accept  the  labours  of  the 
professed  topographer  and  antiquary  with  their  due  share  of 
complacency  and  praise.  The  common  opinion  that  blind 
belief  is  the  most  convenient  viaticum,  is  contradicted  by  the 
experience  of  every  traveller  in  Italy.  He  who  begins  his 
journey  with  such  entire  confidence  in  common  fame  and 
Common  guide  books,  must  have  the  conviction  of  impos- 
ture and  mistake  forced  upon  him  at  every  turn.  He  is 
likely  then  to  slide  into  the  contrary  extreme,  and,  if  he  is 
averse  to  all  previous  examination,  will  subside  at  last  into 
complete  scepticism  and  indifference.  We  may  apply  a  lite- 
ral sense  to  the  words  of  Erasmus  in  praise  of  Italy.  "  In 
that  country  the  very  walls  are  more  learned  and  more  eloquent 
than  our  nieii.^^*'  But  the  immense  variety  of  antiquarian 
objects,  the  innumerable  details  of  historical  topography  be- 
longing to  every  province,  the  national  inclination  to  fable, 
and,  it  may  be  said,  to  deception,  suggest  themselves  to  every 
considerate  traveller,  and  induce  him  to  a  caution  and  reserve 
which,  with  wonders  less  multiplied  and  guides  more  faithful, 

illud  pprtiiiont,  monastoiia  sive  celias  cum  suis  peilincntiis:  videlicet 
EcclcHiam  S.  Salvatoiis  rum  aliis  ecclesiis  de  Custelio  Bandusii.  The 
bull  is  addressed  to  the  Abbot  Monaslerii  Baniini  in  Apulia  Acheruniin, 
and  enumerating  the  churches,  goes  on,  Ecclesiam  sanctorum  martynim 
Gervasii  ct  Protasii  in  Bandusino  fontc  apud  Vcnusiam.  The  date  of 
the  hull  is  May  £2,  llOS.  [See  Bullarium  Romanum,  Paschalis,  P,  P. 
ftecundu?,  num.  xvii.  torn.  ii.  pag.  l!£3,  edit.  Roma,  1739,] 
*Lib.  1.  epist.  4.  to  Rob.  Fisher. 


37 

he  might  deem  superfluous  and  embarrassing.  A  very  little 
experience  is  suflicient  to  convince  him  how  small  is  the  pro- 
portion of  those  antiquities  whose  real  character  has  been 
entirely  ascertained.  From  his  first  view  of  Soracte  he  ra- 
pidly advances  upon  Rome,  the  approach  to  which  soon 
brings  him  upon  debateable  ground.  At  Civita  Castcllana  he 
will  find  himself  amongst  the  Veians  when  in  the  market- 
place of  Leo  the  Tenth,  but  going  on  the  town  bridge  he  is 
told  by  Pius  the  Sixth  that  he  is  at  Falerium.  After  he  has 
caught  the  first  view  of  St.  Peter's  from  the  height  beyond 
Baccano,  he  hopes  that  the  remaining  fifteen  miles  may  fur- 
nish him  at  every  other  step  with  some  sign  of  his  vicinity  to 
Rome :  he  palpitates  with  expectation,  and  gazes  eagerly  on 
the  open  undulating  dells  and  plains,  fearful  lest  a  fragment  of 
an  aqueduct,  a  column,  or  an  arch,  should  escape  his  notice. 

Gibbets  garnished  with  black  withered  limbs,  and  a  monk 
in  a  vetturino's  chaise,  may  remind  him  that  he  is  approach- 
ing the  modern  capital ;  but  he  descends  into  alternate  hol- 
lows, and  winds  up  hill  after  hill  with  nothing  to  observe  ex- 
cept the  incorrectness  of  the  last  book  of  travels,  which  will 
have  talked  to  him  of  the  flat,  bare,  dreary  waste  he  has  to 
pass  over  be  to  re  arriving  at  the  Eternal  City.  At  last,  how- 
ever, he  is  stopped  at  a  sarcophagus,  and  told  to  look  at  the 
k)mh  of  Kero  :  a  hardy  falsehood,  which  may  prepare  him  for 
the  misnomers  of  the  city  itself,  but  which,  notwithstanding 
the  name  of  c.  vibivs  marianvs  is  cut  upon  the  stone,  was 
so  exactly  suited  to  the  taste  and  learning  of  the  J)resident 
Dupaty,  that  he  pointed  a  period  of  his  favourite  starts  and 
dashes,  with  this  epigram,  on  the  approach  to  ruined  Rome, 
"  c'est  h  tombemi  de  Neron  qui  Pannonce.''''* 

Stanza  LXXVIII. 

O  JRo??!e  .'  my  country,  dty  of  the  soibl. 

The  downs  which  the  traveller  has  passed  after  leaving 
Monterosi,  sink  into  green  shrubby  dells  as  he  arrives  within 

*  The  writer  having  thrown  the  book  in  the  fire,  cannot  quote  chapten 
and  T^r?«  fr>r  this  nonsense,  but  it  is  to  be  found  in  Dupaty's  travels. 


38 

five  or  six  miles  of  Rome.     The  Monte  Mario  stretches  for- 
ward its  high  woodj  platform  on  the  right.     The  distant 
plain  of  the  Tiber  and  the  Campagna,  to  the  left,  is  closed  by 
the  Tiburtine  and  Alban  hills.     In  the  midst  Rome  herself, 
wide  spreading  from  the  Vatican  to  the  pine-covered  Pincian, 
is  seen  at  intervals  so  far  apart  as  to  appear  more  than  a  sin- 
gle city.     Arrived  at  the  banks  of  the  Tiber,  he  does  not 
Und  the  muddy  insignificant  stream  which  the  disappointments 
of  overheated  expectations  have  described  it,  but  one  of  the 
finest  rivers  in  Europe,  now  rolling  through  a  vale  of  gardens, 
and  now  sweeping  the  base  of  swelling  acclivities  clothed 
Drith  wood,   and  crowned  with   villas  and  their  evergreen 
shrubberies.     The  gate  of  the  city  is  seen  immediately  on 
crossing  the  river  at  the  end  of  a  vista  two  miles  in  length  ; 
and  the  suburb  is  not  composed  of  mean  dwellings,  but  a  fine 
road  with  a  wide  pavement  passes  between  the  walls  of  vine- 
yards imd  orchards,  with  here  and  there  neat  summer-houses- 
or  arched  gateways  rising  on  either  hand,  and  becoming  more 
frequent  with  the  nearer  approach  to  the  city.     The  Flami- 
nian  gate,  although  it  is  thought  unworthy  of  Rome  and  Mi- 
chael Angelo,  will  content  those  who  are  not  fastidious.     Aa 
entrance,  not  an  arch  of  triumph,  is  sufficient  for  the  modern 
capital.     The  stranger,  when  within  that  gate,  may  ascend  at 
once  by  the  new  road  winding  up  the  Pincian  mount,  and  en- 
joy from  that  eminence  the  view  of  a  city,  which,  whatever 
may  be  the  faults  of  its  architectural  details,  is,  when  seen  in 
the  mass,  incomparably  the  handsomest  in  the  world.*     The 
pure  transparent  sky  above  him  will  seem  made,  as  it  were, 
to  give  brilliancy  to  the  magnificent  prospect  below.     The 
new  climate  will  indeed  add  much  to  his  delight,  for  although 
amongst  those  branches  of  the  Apennines  which  approach 
within  forty  miles  of  the  city,  he  may  have  been  chilled  by 
the  rigours  of  a  Lombard  sky,  he  is  no  sooner  in  the  plain  of 
the  Tiber,  than  his  spirits  expand  in  an  atmosphere,  which^ 
in  many  Seasons,  preserves  an  unsullied  lustre  and  exhilarating 

•  Doivalus  prefers  the  site,  the  Sjtreets,  and  as  far  as  the  church  of  St.. 
Peter's  is  considered,  the  edifices  of  the  modern  to  those  of  the  ancient 
city.  Roma  Vutus,  lib.  i,  cap.  SiD.  The  town  is  much  improved  since 
the  time  of  Urhan  VilL  to  whom  Donatus  dedicated  his  work. 

'4 


3« 

warmth  from  the  rains  of  autumn  to  the  tempests  of  the  ver- 
nal equinox.  What  has  been  said  and  sung  of  the  tepid 
winter  of  Italy,  is  not  intelligible  to  the  north  of  Rome  ;  but 
in  that  divine  city,  for  some  transport  may  be  allowed  to  the 
recollection  of  all  its  attractions,  we  assent  to  the  praises  of 
Virgil,  and  feel  his  poetry  to  have  spoken  the  language  of 
truth. 

"  Hie  Ter  assiduum  atque  alienis  mensibus  astas." 
This  must  have  been  written  at  Rome.  The  banks  of  his 
frozen  Mincio  would  have  inspired  no  such  rapture.*  But 
not  the  superb  structures  of  the  modern  town,  nor  the  happy 
climate,  have  made  Rome  the  country  of  every  man  and 
"  the  city  of  the  soul."  The  education  which  has  qualified 
the  traveller  of  every  nation  for  that  citizenship  which  is 
again  become,  in  one  point  of  view,  what  it  once  was,  the 
portion  of  the  whole  civilized  world,  prepares  for  him  at 
Rome  enjoyments  independent  of  the  city  and  inhabitants 
about  him,  and  of  all  the  allurements  of  site  and  climate. 
He  will  have  already  peopled  the  banks  of  the  Tiber  with 
the  shades  of  Pompey,  Constantine,  and  Belisarius,  and  the 
other  heroes  of  the  Milvian  bridge.  The  first  footstep  with- 
in the  venerable  walls  will  have  shown  him  the  name  and  the 
magnificence  of  Augustus,  and  the  three  long  narrow  streets 
branching  from  this  obelisk,  like  the  theatre  of  Palladio,  will 
have  imposed  upon  his  fancy  with  an  air  of  antiquity  conge- 
nial to  the  soil.  Even  the  mendicants  of  the  country  asking 
alms  in  Latin  prayers,  and  the  vineyard  gates  of  the  suburbs 
inscribed  with  the  ancient  language,  may  be  allowed  to  con- 
tribute to  the  agreeable  delusion.  Of  the  local  sanctity 
which  belongs  to  Athens,  Rome,  and  Constantinople,  the  two 
first  may  be  thought  to  possess,  perhaps,  an  equal  share. 
The  latter  is  attractive  chiefly  for  that  site  which  was  chosen 
for  the  retreat  and  became  the  grave  of  empire.  The  Greek 
capital  may  be  more  precious  in  the  eyes  of  the  artist,  and, 
it  may  be,  of  the  scholar,  but  yields  to  the  magnitude,  the 

*  Rome  had  fallen  when  Rutilius  said  of  her  climalc, 
Vere  tuo  nunquam  mulceri  desinit  annus 
Deliciasque  tuas  victa  tueter  hyems. 

CI.  Rut.  Num.  It*^. 


40 

gi'andeur,  and  variefy  of  the  Roman  relics.  ITie  robe  of  the 
Orientals  has  spread  round  Athens  an  air  of  antique  preserva- 
tion, which  the  European  city  and  the  concourse  of  strangers 
have  partially  dispelled  from  Rome.  But  the  required  soli- 
tude may  be  occasionally  found  amongst  the  vaults  of  the 
Palatine,  or  the  columns  of  the  great  Forum  itself.  Ancient 
and  modern  Rome  are  linked  together  like  the  dead  and  liv- 
ing criminals  of  Mezentius.  The  present  town  may  be  easi- 
ly forgotten  amidst  the  wrecks  of  the  ancient  metropolis  ; 
and  a  spectator  on  the  tower  of  the  capitol  may  turn  from  the 
carnival  throngs  of  the  Corso,  to  the  contiguous  fragments 
of  the  old  city,  and  not  behold  a  single  human  being.  The 
general  effect  of  such  a  prospect  may  be  felt  by  any  one ; 
and  ignorance  may  be  consoled  by  hearing  that  a  detailed  ex- 
amination must  be  made  the  study  rather  of  a  life  than  of  a 
casual  visit. 

Stanza  LXXVIII. 

Come  and  see 
The  cypress,  kear  the  owl,  and  plod  your  way 
O^er  steps  of  broken  thrones  and  temples. 

The  traveller  who  is  neither  very  young  nor  very  incu- 
rious, may  inquire  what  previous  instruction  or  present  guides 
will  enable  him  to  understand  the  history  as  well  as  to  feel  the 
moral  effect  of  "  these  broken  thrones  and  temples."  To 
this  question  no  satisfactory  answer  can  be  given.  The 
earlier  notices  of  the  Roman  antiquities  abound  with  errors, 
which  might  be  expected  from  the  infancy  of  a  study  requi- 
ring so  much  discretion.  Petrarch,  who  was  himself  an  anti- 
qiiaiT,  and  presented  a  collection  of  gold  and  silver  medals 
to  the  Emperor  Charles  IV.  in  1354,  called  the  pyramid  of 
Cestius, the  tomb  of  Remus;  and  Poggio, whois  surprised  at 
such  an  error,*  has  indulged  in  exaggerations  which  very  much 
reduce  the  value   of  his  lamentation    over  the  fallen  city. 

*  Dc  fortuiise  vaiietate  urbis  Romaj  «;t  de  ruinis  ejusdem   descriptio 
Ap.  Salleiigre  Nov.  Thcsaur.     Antiq.  Roman.  Venct.  1735,  torn.  i.  p. 
501 


41 

The  ill-tempered  Florentine  has  also  told  us  what  to  expect 
from  his  cotemporary  Ciriacus  of  Ancoua,  whose  forty  days 
ride  in  Rome,  with  his  tablets  in  hand,  has  procured  for  him 
no  better  names  than  an  impostor  and  a  dunce.*  Flavius 
Blondus,  who  dedicated  to  the  patron  of  this  latter  writer,  to 
Eugenius  IV.,  contented  himself  with  a  description  rather 
df  the  ancient  city,  and  hazarded  so  few  conjectures  on  it? 
comparative  topography,  that  he  owns  he  could  hardly  disco- 
ver the  seven  hills  on  the  most  minute  inspection.!  When 
less  doubtful,  he  is  not  less  erroneous,  and  amongst  other 
instances,  may  be  selected  his  assertion  that  Theodoric  per- 
mitted the  Romans  to  employ  the  stones  of  the  Coliseum  for 
the  repair  of  the  city  walls. |  In  the  end  of  the  same  cen- 
tury (XVth),  Pomponius  Lastus  made  a  collection  of  antiques 
on  the  Quirinal,  and  distinguished  himself  in  exploring  the 
ruins  ;  but  the  forgery  of  the  inscription  to  Claudian§  renders 
the  authority  of  the  restorer  of  the  drama  more  than  sus- 
pected. Sabellico  Peutinger,  and  Andreas  Fulvius,  both  of 
the  school  of  Laetus,  will  throw  little  light  on  a  survey  of 
Rome.     The  character  of  Marlianus  may  be  given  from  his 


*  See  an  account  of  him  in  Tiraboschi.     Storia  della  liStt.   torn.  vi. 
par.  i.  lib.  i.  p.  £C4  et  seq.  edit.  Venet.  1795.     He  rode  on  a  white  horse, 
lent  him  by  Cardinal  Condolmieri,  afterwards  Eugenius  IV.    Tiraboschi 
defends  Ciriacus. 
t  Roma  instaurata,  edit  Taurin.  1527,  in  a  collection,  lib.  i.  fol.  14. 
t  Ibid.  lib.  iii.  fol.  33.     See  note  on  the  Coliseum. 

^  Claudian  had  a  statue  in  the  forum  of  Trajan,  but  the  inscription 
was  composed  by  Pomponius  Laetus.  See  Tiraboschi  Storia,  fcc.  torn, 
ii.  lib.  iv.  It  imposed  on  all  the  antiquaries,  and  was  believed  even  by 
Nardini.  See  Roma  Antic,  lib.  v.  cap.  ix.  Considerable  caution  is  re- 
quisite even  at  this  time  in  reading  inscriptions  either  on  the  spot  or  copied. 
That  on  the  horse  of  Auielius  was  written  at  a  venture,  when  that  monu- 
ment was  transported  from  the  Luteran  to  the  capitol  in  1538,  by  Paul 
III. 

Faunas,  Gruter,  Pagi,  Smetius,  Desgodetz,  Piranesi,  gave  an  incorrect 
copy  of  the  inscription  on  the  Pantheon.  Marlianus,  Faunus,  and 
Nardini,  have  done  the  same  by  the  inscription  on  the  Temple  of  Con- 
cord. Seethe  Abate  Fea's  dissertation  on  the  ruins  of  Rome  at  the  end 
of  his  tran?\at.ion  of  Winrlfcl man's  Storia  delle  arti,  ^c,  lorn.  ii).  ]yp.  294. 
298. 


42 

annotator  Fulvius  Ursinus.*  He  does  not  treat  frequently 
of  the  modern  town,  and  despatches  the  curiosities  of  the 
Capitol  in  twenty  lines.  The  arbitrary  rashness  which  dis- 
pleased Ursinus  is,  however,  shown  in  instances  more  decisive 
than  the  one  selected  by  his  annotator.  Lucius  Faunus  is 
occasionally  quoted  by  later  writers,  and  generally  for  the 
sake  of  correcting  his  errors.t  The  studious  but  unlearneH 
Ligorius,  the  erudite  obscure  Panvinius,  have  received  their 
estimation  from  Montfaucon.J  Pancirolus  does  not  attempt 
to  be  a  modern  guide,  and  Frabricius,  where  he  runs  into  the 
contrary  extreme,  and  gives  ancient  names  to  disputed  rem- 
nants, is  to  be  admired  only  for  the  boldness  of  his  conjec- 
ture.§  Donatus  and  Nardini  are  indeed  of  a  very  superior 
quality,  and  the  last  is  to  this  day  the  most  serviceable 
conductor.  The  exception  made  in  their  favour  by  the 
more  modern  writers,   is  not  however  unqualified.)]     Mont- 


*Fulviusis  angry  with  Marlianus  for  placing  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Tonans 
near  the  Clivus  Capitolinus,  but  it  is  placed  there  again  by  the  antiquaries 
of  our  own  day.  "  Atque  fortasse  minus  est  admirandum  quod  ita  factus 
est  homo  hie  ut  arbitratu  suo  teraere  omnia  tractet."  See  Marliant 
«rbis  Romae  topographia,  ap.  Grsev.  Antiq.  Roman,  torn  iii.  lib.  ii.  cap. 
S.  p.  141.  notes.  Marlianus  dedicated  his  treatise  to  Francis  I.  whom 
he  styles  liberator  Romce. 

7  De  Antiq.  urb.  Romae.  ap.  Sallengre.  Nov.  Thesaur.  &c.  torn.  i.  p. 
217. 

IDiarlum  Italicum,  edit.  Paris,  1703,  cap.  20.  p.  279.  "Sequitur 
Onuphrius  Panvinius,  qui  onanes  quotquot  antea  scripserunt  eruditis 
suis  lucubrationibus  obscuravit."  He  is  given  in  the  third  vol.  of 
Grseviiis. 

?^  They  are  both  to  be  found  in  the  third  vol.  of  Greevius.  Descriptio 
tirbis  Roma;.  Descriptio  Romae,  p.  462.  George  Fabricius  wrote  in 
1550.  Panvinius  dedicated  his  description  of  Rome,  which  he  added  to 
the  old  regionaricB,  to  the  Emperor  Ferdinand,  in  1 558-  Fabricius  him- 
self mentions  some  early  writers  in  his  first  chapter,  and  lays  down  a 
useful  canon.  "  In  cognoscendis  autem  urbis  antiquitatibus  sermo  vulgi 
audiendus  non  est." 

II  «  E  quibus,  (that  is,  all  the  early  topographers)  si  hos  binos  posterio- 
res  exceperis,  nemo  est,  qui  in  turpes  errores  non  impegerit,  quamquani 
nee  isti  quidem  immunes  sint »  Jul.  Minutuli,  dissertatio  iii.  de  urbis 
Romse  topographia.  Syllabus  auctorum,  ap.  Sallengre  Supp ,  &;c  p. 
40.  ^         ' ' 


43 

^ucon,  in  the  en3  of  the  XVIIth  century,  found  them  and 
many  others  who  had  passed  nearly  their  whole  Uves  in  at- 
tempting a  description  of  the  city,  far  from  satisfactory  ;*  and 
neither  he  nor  his  cotemporaiies  supplied  the  deficiency.  A 
hundred  years  have  not  furnished  the  desired  plan  of  the 
•city.  Detached  monuments  have  been  investigated  with 
some  success ;  and  whenever  Visconti  has  shone  out,  we  have 
had  reason  "  to  bless  the  useful  light."  But  whoever  should 
attempt  a  general  view  of  the  subject,  would  have  to  brusli 
away  the  cobwebs  of  erudition,  with  which  even  the  modern 
discoveries  are  partially  obscured.  Venuti  hardly  deserves 
the  praise  conferred  upon  him  by  our  most  intelligent  modern 
traveller.!  His  style  and  argument  are  in  many  places  such 
as  not  to  allow  of  his  being  divined,  and  he  generally  leaves 
us,  even  when  most  positive,  to  balance  doubts  and  choose 
between  difficulties.  If  the  Abbe  Barthelemy  had  pursued 
his  original  plan  of  writing  an  Italian  Anacharsis  for  the  age 
of  Leo  X.,  he  might  have  been  more  useful  at  Rome  than  he 
is  in  Greece.  As  it  is,  the  Abbe's  cursory  but  learned  obser- 
vations are  distinguished  by  the  quotation  of  a  very  singular 
document,  the  original  of  which  has  never  been  found,!  and 

*  Montfaticon  says  of  Donatus,  "  quamvis  plura  pratermittat  quam 
scribit."  Of  Nardini,  "  laudatum  opus  a  laudatis  viris,"  but  "  videturque 
-sane  nihil  pensi  habere,  dura  dubia  et  difficultates  perpetuo  injiciat,  ubi  ne 
vel  umbra  difficultatis  fuerit."  Diarium  Italicum,  &c.  cap,  20.  p.  281. 
edit  Paris,  1702. 

f  Mr.  Forsyth,  after  touching  on  the  inadequacy  of  former  topogra- 
phers, as  general  guides,  says,  "  Venuti  has  sifted  this  farrago."  If 
he  has,  the  chaff  flies  in  our  eyes.  Remarks,  fcc.  on  Italy,  p.  129,  sec. 
edit. 

X  It  refers  to  the  Coliseum,  and  will  be  remarked  in  its  pniper  place. 
See  Mem.  de  I'academit-  des  belles  lettres,  torn  xxviii.  pp.  519.  599.  A 
separate  volume  has  been  printed. 

Mr.  Millin  has  published  four  volumes  on  Upper  Italy,  (Voyage  en 
Savoie,  en  Piemont,  i  Nice  et  a  Genes,  181€;  and  Voyage  dans  le  Mi- 
lanais  a  Plaisance,  Parme,  kc.  1817.)  and  i«  to  continue  his  work  down 
to  the  straits  of  Messina,  and  into  Calabria,  He  should  be  warned  that 
he  is  charged  by  the  Italians  with  never  having  been  in  some  of  the 
spots  he  describes  as  a  spectator.  His  compilation  does  not  apply  to 
present  appearances.  It  is  as  clear  that  he  never  has  been  at  Parma,  as 
that  Buonaparte  was  at  the  battle  of  Lodi,  which,  by  the  account  given 

6 


44 

Ibis  ingenious  countrymen  had  not  extended  their  hterary  em- 
pire to  the  illustration  of  sites  and  monuments  in  their  rival  Ita- 
ly, until  their  political  dominion  had  embraced  the  soil  itself. 
Our  own  writers^  with  the  exception  of  Mr.  Forsyth,  whose 
sketch  makes  us  regret  the  loss  of  the  taste  and  learning  he  might 
have  brought  to  bear  on  a  regular  survey,  have  done  nothing 
in  this  laborious  line,  absolutely  nothing.  The  last  of  them 
seems  to  have  thought  it  of  little  importance  that  the  capitol 
was  ever  inhabited  by  any  others  than  the  monks  of  Ara  cceli, 
or  that  the  court  of  Augustus  preceded  that  of  the  Popes. 
The  insufficiency  of  all  latter  labours,  and  the  necessity  of 
some  new  guide,  may  be  collected  from  the  expedient  at  last 
adopted  of  republishing  Nardini.*  What  has  been  said  of  the 
embarrassment  of  a  stranger  at  Rome,  must  appear  more  sin- 
gular when  it  is  recollected,  that  besides  the  casual  efforts  of 
natives  and  foreigners,  there  is  an  archaeological  society  con- 
stantly at  work  upon  the  antiquities  of  the  city  and  neighbour- 
hood, and  that  not  a  few  persons  of  liberal  education  are  in 
the  exercise  of  a  lucrative  profession,  having  for  object  the 
instruction  and  conduct  of  travellers  amidst  the  wrecks  of 
the  old  town  and  the  museums  of  the  new. 

Stanza  LXXX. 

The  Goth,  the  Christian,  fyc. 

A  Comment  on  these  verses  will  naturally  embrace  some 
remarks  on  the  various  causes  of  the  destruction  of  Rome,  a 
subject  on  which,  it  is  said  with  the  utmost  deference,  the 
last  chapter  of  our  great  historian  has  furnished  a  hasty  out- 
line rather  than  the  requisite  details.!  The  inquiry  has  par- 
taken of  the  fate  of  all  disputed  points.     The  exculpation  of 

by  this  conserver  of  the  king's  medals,  it  would  appear  he  was  not.  See 
Voyage  dans  le  Milanais,  kc,  pp.  57,  58.  chap.  xvi. 

*  It  has  been  undertaken  by  Mr.  Nibby,  a  respectable  young  man,  one 
of  the  professional  antiquaries  of  Rome,  who  is  likewise  employed  on  a 
translation  of  Pausanias.  The  volume  on  the  Basilica  of  St.  Paul,  under 
the  name  of  Monsignor  Niccolai,  is  by  this  gentleman. 

t  Let  it  not  be  thought  presumptuous  to  say  that  this  last  chapter 
should  have  been  his  first  composition,  Avritten  while  his  memory  was 


45 

the  Goths  and  Vandals  has  been  thought  prejudicial  to  the?. 
Christians,  and  the  praise  of  the  latter  regarded  as  an  injus- 
tice to  the  barbarians  ;  but,  forgetting  the  controversy  and 
following  the  order  prescribed  in  the  cited  verse,  perhaps  we 
shall  find  both  the  one  and  the  other  to  have  been  more  active 
despoilers  than  has  been  confessed  by  their  mutual  apologists. 
A  learned  Tuscan,  a  friend  of  Tasso,  wrote  a  treatise  ex- 
pressly on  this  subject,  and  positively  asserted  that  from 
Alaric  to  Arnulphus  no  damage  was  done  by  the  barbarians  to 

freshly  stamped  with  the  image  of  the  ruins  which  inspired  his  immortal 
labours.  In  the  present  case  his  researches  do  not  bear  the  mark  of  hav- 
ing been  at  ail  corrected  by  his  Italian  travels  ;  and  indeed,  in  more  than 
one  instance,  his  erudition  has  completely  effaced  his  experience.  It  is 
not  meant  to  attach  undue  importance  to  trifles,  but  an  author,  whose 
accuracy  was  his  pride,  and  who  is  generally  allowed  to  have  descended 
to  the  minutest  details,  particularly  in  topography,  might  hardly  be  «'X- 
pected  to  have  made  the  following  mistake  :  "  The  Roman  ambassadors 
were  introduced  to  the  tent  of  Mtila  as  he  lay  encamped  at  the  place  when 
the  slow  winding  Mincius  is  lost  in  the  foaming  Benacus,  and  trampled 
with  his  Scythian  cavalry  the  farms  of  Catullus  and  Virgil ;"  and  below, 
note  63,  "  The  Marquis  Maffei  (  Verona  illustrata,  part  ipp.  95, 129, 221, 
partii.pp.2, — 6.)  has  illustrated  with  taste  and  learning  this  interesting 
topography.  He  places  the  intervieiu  of  Altila  and  St  Leo  near  Ariolica 
or  Ardelica,  now  Peschiera,  at  the  conjlux  of  the  lake  and  the  riverJ*^  De- 
cline and  Fall,  cap.  XXXV.  p.  ISI.  tom.  vi.  oct.  Extraordinary!  The 
Mincius  flows  from  the  Benacus  at  Peschiera,  not  into  it.  The  country 
is  on  a  descent  the  Avhole  way  from  the  Veronese  hills,  according  to  thft 
quotation  from  Virgil  cited  by  BIr.  Gibbon  himself: 

qua  se  subducere  coUes, 


Incipiunt. 


More  strange  still  is  the  reference  to  Maffei,  who,  so  far  fiom  alluding  to 
a  conflux  of  the  river  and  lake,  says  at  the  close  of  the  very  sentence  re- 
specting the  interview  between  Attila  and  St.  Leo,  "  Chi  scrisse  il  luogo 
di  cosi  memorabil  fatto  essere  stato  ove  sbocca  il  Mincio  nel  Po,  d'autorft 
antico  non  ebbe  appoggio."  Verona  illustrata,  parte  i.  p.  424.  Verona 
1732.  The  other  references,  parte  ii.  p.  3,  10,  11,  of  the  same  edition* 
say  nothing  of  the  course  of  the  river.  It  is  just  possible  Mr.  Gibbon 
thought  Maffei  meant  to  deny  that  the  Mincio  fell  into  the  Po  :  but  at  aU 
events  he  might  have  seen  at  Peschiera  that  it  runs  through  sluices  out  of 
the  Benacus.  Maffei,  however,  in  another  place  actually  mentions  the 
qutlet  of  the  lake  into  the  Mincio :  "  Peschiera  ....  alV  mHq  del  lago  svi 
Mincio  J"    Veron.  illust.  p^ir.  iji.  )>.  510.  edit.  cit. 


46 

iany  of  llie  public  edifices  of  Rome.*  Heowned  that  such  an 
opinion  would  appear  paradoxical,  and  so  indeed  will  it  be 
found  after  a  cursory  survey,  and  even  as  he  treats  the  inqui- 
ry. It  is  certain  that  Alaric  did  burn  a  part  of  Rome.  Oro- 
sius,t  by  making  the  comparison  between  the  former  great 
lires  and  that  of  the  Goths,  shows  that  such  a  comparison 
might  be  suggested  by  the  rhagnitude  of  the  latter  calamity. 
He  adds  also  that  after  the  people  were  returned  the  confla- 
gration had  left  its  traces,  and  in  relating  the  partial  destruc- 
tion of  the  Forum  by  lightning,  makes  it  appear  that  the 
brazen  beams  and  the  mighty  structures  which  were  then  con- 
sumed would  have  fallen  by  the  hands  and  flames  of  the  bar- 
barians, had  they  not  been  too  massive  for  human  force  to 
overthrow.]:  It  should  be  remembered  that  the  supposed 
piety  redeemed  the  actual  violence  of  the  Goths,  and  that 
respect  for  the  vessels  of  St.  Peter's  shrine  made  Orosius  al- 
most the  apologist  of  Alaric. 

The  lamentations  of  St.  Jerome  are  too  loud  to  allow  us 
to  suppose  the  calamity  did  not  affect  the  buildings.§     He 


^  Ane;clio  Piefro  da  Barga  de  privaiorum  puhUcorumque  (zdificiorum 
iirbis  RoiiKE  eversorihus  epistola  ad  Petrum  Usimbardum,  &tc.  Ap.  Grsev. 
Antiq  Roman,  torn.  iv.  p.  1870-  Edit.  Venet.  1732.  "  sed  tamen  quod 
?d  piiblicorum  aedificiorura  et  substructionum  ruinas  pertinet  nihil  omnino 
incoraiTiodi  passa  est." 

r "  Tcrtia  die-  Barbari,  quam  ingressi  fuerint  urbem,  sponte  discedunt, 
facto  quidem  aliquantarutn  aedium  incendio,  sed  ne  tanto  quidem,  quan- 
tum septingesimo  conditionis  ejus  anno  casus  effecerat."  He  compares 
tlie  Gallic  and  Neronic  fires,  and  says  thej-  were  greater  than  the  Gothic- 
Hist.  Lib.  vii.  cap.  xxxix.  "  Cujus  rei  quamvis  recens  raemoria  sit,  turn 
&i  quis  ipsius  populi  Roman!  et  multitudinem  vidcat  et  vecera  audiat,  nihil 
factum,  sicut  ipsi  etiam  fatentur,  arbitrabitur,  nisi  aliquantis  adhuc  existen- 
tibus  ex  incendio  ruinis  forte  doceatur."     Lib.  vii.  cap.  xl. 

1"  Quippe  cum  supra  humanas  vires  asset,  incendere  aeneas  trabes,  et- 
subrucre  magnarum  moles  structurarum,  ictu  fulminum  Forum  cum  iina- 
ginibus  variis,  quae  superstitione  miserabili  vej  deum  vel  hominemmentiun- 
tur,  abjectum  est :  horuraque  omnium  abominamentorum  quod  iramissa 
perhotitera  flamma  non  adiit,  missus  e  Cfcio  ignis  evertit."  Lib-  ii-  cap.  15' 

5^  See  Epist.  cxxvii.  ad  Principiam ;  Epist.  cxxiii.  ad  Agruchiam.  pp.. 
903 — 909.  torn,  l  Hieron.  Opera.  Veron.  1731. 


47 

calls  the  city  "  the  sepulchre  of  the  Roman  people,"  andl 
particularizes  that  "the  walls  were  half  destroyed."* 

More  confidence  might  be  attached  to  his  account  of  the 
ruin  and  restoration  of  Rome,  if  he  had  not  attributed  the 
latter  to  the  profession  of  virginity  by  a  single  noble  lady.t 

In  subsequent  times  we  find  the  strongest  expressions  ap» 
plied  to  the  sack  of  Rome,  by  Alaric.  Pope  Gelasius  in  a 
letter  to  the  senator  Andromachus  (A,  D.  496)  has  the  words 
"  when  Alaric  overturned  the  city."J 

Procopius§  confines  the  fire  to  the  quarter  near  the  Sala- 
rian  gate;  but  adds  that  tlie  Goths  ravaged  the  whole  city. 
The  despoiling  edifices  of  ornaments,  many  of  which  must 
have  been  connected  with  their  structure,  could  not  fail  to- 
hasten  their  decay. 

Marcellinus  mentions  that  a  part  of  Rome  was  burnt,  and 
delays  the  departure  of  the  barbarians  to  the  sixth  day.|| 

Cassiodorus,**  a  much  better  and  earlier  authority  in  every 
respect  than  the  three  last  writers,  assures  us  that  "  many  of 
the  wonders    of  Rome  were    burnt."     Olympiodorus    talk* 

*  "  Urhs  tua  quondam  orbis  caput  Romani  populi  sepulchrum  est 

Semiruta  urbis  Roinante  mcmia."  Epist  cxxx.  ad  Demetriadem,  p.  914. 
torn-  1. 

t  He  says  the  victory  of  Marcellus  at  Nola  did  not  so-  raise  the  spirits 
of  the  Rornans,  afflicted  by  the  battles  of  Trebia,  Thrasymene,- 
and  Cannae,  as  this  vow  of  chastity  :  "  Tunc  lugubres  veates  Italia  muta- 
vit,  et  semiruta  urbis  msenia,  pristinam  ex  parte  recepere  fulgorem," 
Epist.  cxxx.  ut  sup- 

X  "  Cum  urbem  Alaricus  evertit."  See  Baronii  Annales  Ecclesiast 
cum  critice  Pagi,  ad  an-  496-  torn-  viii.  pag.  60G.  Luca;  1740. 

Y  (Sa'KcnxJtiov,  tov  pwjitatoijro  rtaXaibv  tr^v  tc-to^Kw  y^d-^avtoi'  ^5  5iy  ta  rty.ciota- 
^l*fXOA)ta  %a(,  ii  ins  tottixt'  t'jjv  ti  noXiv  o%r^v  T-Jjifja/ifpot,  xo<  pufiauM  tw^ 
rtXtt'tffovj  Sio^^Eipoi-rf J,  ^po(j»  e;uwpow.  Procop.  Bell.  Vand.  Lib.  i.  pag. 
93.  Edit.  Hoeschclii-  Aug. 

II  "  Alaricus  trepidam  urbem  Romaminvasit,  partemque  ejus  crema- 
vit  incendio,  sextaque  die  quam  ingressus  fuerat  depredata  urbe  egressus 
est"    Chronic,  ap.  Sirmond.  Opera  Varia,  tom.  ii.  pag.  274-  Venet. 

**  "  Romam  venorunt,  quam  vastantes,  plurima  quidem  miraculorum 
ejus  igne  concremaverunt-"  Hist*  Ecclesia$t.  Tripar.  Lib,  xi.  cap.  9.  pag, 
368.  tom.  1,    Rothonaagi  1679. 


is 

^ly*  of  the  infinite  quantity  of  wealth  which  Alaric  carried 
away ;  but  we  may  collect  from  him  also  how  great  was  the 
disaster,  when  he  tells  us,  that  on  the  repeopling  of  the  city 
fourteen  thousand  returned  in  one  day. 

The  Gothic  historian  who  says  that  fire  was  not  put  to  the 
town  is  no  evidence,  being  directly  contradicted  by  the  above 
quoted  and  other  authorities.! 

The  words  of  the  ecclesiastical  historians  are  of  strong  im-, 
port :  one  of  them  talks  of  fire  and  the  city  lying  in  ruins ;{ 
another  repeats  the  expression  of  Cassiodorus,  that  many  of 
the  wonders  were  destroyed  ;§  and  a  third  that  the  Basilica  of 
St.  Peter's  was  alone  spared  from  the  universal  rapine. || 

That  the  city  partially  recovered  itself  is  of  course  to  be 
allowed.  Albinus  was  active  in  his  attempts  at  restoration, 
and  the  poet  Rutilius,  who  was  prefect  in  417,  not  only  extols 
the  uninjured  remains  of  antiquity,  but  prophesies  the  repair 
of  every  ruin.**  But  the  whole  of  his  beautiful  verses  are  an 
hyperbole.  He  says  that  Brennus  only  delayed  the  chastise- 
ment that  awaited  him,  that  Pyrrhus  was  at  last  defeated,  and 
that  Hannibal  wept  his  success ;  therefore  the  downfal  of 
Alaric  might  be  safely  foretold.  The  blazing  temples  of  the 
capitolj  the  aerial  aqueducts,-  the  marble  sheltered  groves, 

*  "E|  r,i  xp^i^ata.  ti  attitpa  l^sxofiiaB.  Ap.  Phot.  Bibliot.  edit.  Rotho- 
mag.  1653.  pag.  180.  Albinus  wished  to  restore  the  city,  but  people  were 
wanting,  p.  188. 

t  "  Ad  postiemura  Ruraam  ingressi  Alarico  jubente  spoliant  tantum, 
non  autem,  ut  solent  gentes,  ignem  supponunt,  nee  locis  sanctorum  in  ali- 
quo  penitus  injuriaRi  irrogari  patiuntur."  Jornandes  de  reb.  Get.  cap. 
XXX.  p.  85,  86.  Lugd.  Bat.  1697. 

I  Kao  to  svtiv^sv  ifyji  'toaaiiitr,^  6o|«jt.  to  fttytOos  xdt  to  t^i  SvvdfitCii  Af  piww* 
ftov,  a7.xd$D7i.oi-  ftv^  xa]  li^oj  rCoTiifitov.  xat  at;^jiia7tui(Jca  xatifispi^sto  /SapjSapo;. 
iv  spftrtioij  Sc  Wjj  TtuXsi^i  xstj.uvrii  A^uptxoi ....  Philostorgii  Eccl.  Hist.  Lib.. 
xii.  A  p.  Phot.  Bibliot.  num.  3.  pag.  534.  torn.  ii.  edit,  ut  sup. 

§  TtXoj  t£  trjv  ViLfir^v  xateT^ajiov  xai  rtop^r^savtci  a.vti]v  to,  /x)v  /toT^Ka,  fw* 
Oavi-iaatuv  ixUvuv  diai^dtcov  xatexavaav.  Socrat.  Hist.  Ecclesias.  Lib.  vii? 
tap  X.  p.  283. 

[i  Sozomen,  Hist.  Ecclesias  Lib.  ix.  cap.  9. 

•XTt  ((  Astrorum  flammse  renovent  occasibus  ortus 
Lunam  fiuiri  cernis  ut  incipiat." 

CJ.  Rut.  Num.  Iter. 


49 

might  still  be  praised ;  but  he  confesses  that  Rome  had  suffer- 
ed that  which  would  have  dissolved  another  empire  ;*  his  pro- 
phecies of  repair  w^ere  those  of  a  poet,  and  the  ruins  of  the 
palace  of  Sallust  remained  to  contradict  them  in  the  time  of 
Procopius.t 

The  injury  done  by  Genserick  (A.  D,  455)  was  not  so  great 
as  that  of  the  Goths,  and  Da  Barga  despatches  his  invasion  in 
a  few  sentences.  Jornandes,  however,  apphes  the  expression 
devastation  to  his  entry.J  AH  the  writers§  are  of  accoid  that 
the  Vandals  in  their  fourteen  days  residence  emptied  Rome 
of  her  wealth;  and  as  we  are  informed,  of  the  robbery  of  half 
the  tiles  of  the  temple  of  the  Capitohne  Jupiter,  and  of  all 
the  treasures  of  the  Temple  of  Peace,  and  the  palace  of  the 
Caesars, II  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  precious  metals 
were  extracted  and  torn  down  from  all  the  structures,  public 
and  private,  a  violence  which,  without  the  use  of  fire  or  en- 
gines, must  have  loosened  many  of  the  compact  masses,  and 
been  totally  destructive  of  smaller  edifices.  An  ecclesiasti- 
cal historian  twice  mentions  that  Genserick  set  fire  to  RomCj 


*  Illud  te  reparat  quod  csetera  regna  resolvit 
Ordo  renascendi  est  crescere  posse  m;ilis. 

Claud.  Rutilii.  Numant.  Iter.  ver.  140. 
f  Bell .  Vandal,  in  loc.  cit. 

X  "  Quod  audiens  Gizericus  rex  Vandalorura,  ab  Africa  arnaata  class* 
in  Italiam  venit,  Romamque  ingressus  cuncta  devastat."  Jornand.  de 
reb.  Get.  cap.  45.  pag.  417.  sub  fin.  Cassiod.  oper.  fol   1679. 

5^  Conscenderat  arces 
Evandri  massyla  phalanx,  montesque  Quirini 
Marmarici  pressere  pedes,  rursusque  revexit 
Quae  captiva  dedit  quondam  sstipendia  Barche. 

Sidon.  Apollin.  carmen  vii.  Paneg.  Avit.  vers.  441. 
"  Gizericus  sollicitatus  a  relicta  Valentiniani,  ut  malum  fama  dispergit, 
priusquam  Avitus  Augustus  fieret,  Romam  ingreditur,  direptisque  opibus 
Romanorum  Carthaginera  redit."   Idatii.  Episcop.  Chronic,  ap.  Sirmond. 
opera  varia   "Venet  pag.  £39.  torn.  ii. 

"  Gensericus  rex invitatus  ex  AfricJi  Romam  ingressus  est  e^ue 

urbe  rebus  omnibus  spoliatu,"  fac.     Marcellini  Chronic,    ap.   Sirmond. 
Tom.  ii.  pag.  !274. 

II  Bell.  Vandal,  pag.  97.  edit,  citat.     'Ovis  x^^X'^^  w^e  oXKm  oiowv  tv 


■60 

hut  the  silence  of  other  writers  has  discredited  hig  autho- 
rity.* 

The  sack  of  Rome  by  Ricimer  (A.  D.  472)  is  generally 
overlooked  by  the  apologists  of  the  early  invaders ;  but  it 
should  not  be  forgotten  that  the  "  Barbarians,  Arians,  and  In- 
fidels" were  indulged  by  the  patrician  in  the  plunder  of  all 
but  two  regions  of  the  city.t 

Considerable  stress  has  been  laid  upon  the  grandeur  of  the 
structures  which  still  remained,  after  the  above  calamities,  to 
be  admired  by  Theodoric,  but  the  praise  of  what  is  left  does 
not  include  a  proof  that  little  has  been  lost :  were  it  so,  Rome 
tvould  appear  to  have  not  suffered  much  even  in  the  middle 
ages,  when  her  fragments  were  the  wonder  of  the  pilgrims  of 
every  nation.  It  must,  besides,  be  remarked,  that  the  larger 
monuments,  the  Forum  of  Trajan,  the  Circus  Maximus,  the 
Coliseum,  the  Capitol,  the  Theatre  of  Pompey,  the  Palace  of 
the  Caesars,  are  those  particularly  recorded  by  the  minister  of 
the  Gothic  monarch,  and  of  those  the  two  latter  were  in  want 
of  repair.  J  A  palace  partly  in  ruins§  on  the  Pincian  mount, 
marbles  and  square  blocks  every  where  lying  prostrate, ||  the 
desertion  and  decay  of  many  houses,  must,  partially  at  least, 
be  attributed  to  the  fire  of  Alaric  ;  the  spoliation  of  the  Van- 
dals, and  the  sack  of  Ricimer.  To  Vitiges,  who  came  down 
on  Rome  like  a  raging  hon,**  must  be  ascribed  the  destruction 

■''■  A7iuo.  fr^v  ;to?.n/  ytDprtoX^tfoj  ftdvtati  %y;'i:adfievoi  — —  fjji/  *p»^}jv  tfiitt- 
itpija^ai.     Evagrii  Hist.  Eccl.  lib.  ii.  cap.  vii.  p.  298. 

t  Annali  d'ltalia,  vol.  iii.  p.  222. 3Iiian  1744.  "  Ed  ecco  I'amaro  frutto 
dell'  aver  gl'  Imperadori  voluto  per  lor  guardie,  o  per  ausiliarj,  gente  Bar- 
bara, Ariana,  e  di  niuna  fede. 

i  Cassiodori.  Variar.  episL  51.  lib.  iv.  epist.  v.  Kb.  vii. 

^  "  Ut  marmora  quje  de  domo  Pinciana  constat  esse  deposita  ad  Ra* 
vennatem  urbem  per  catabulenses  vestra  ordinatione  dirigantur."  Epist. 
10.  ad  Festum.  lib.  iii.  torn.  1.  pag.  4S  edit-  cit- 

II  "  Et  ideo  illustris  magmficentia  tua  marmorum  quadrates  qui  passim 

diruti  negliguntur et  ornent  aliquld  saxa  jacentia  post  ruinas.'''> 

Epist.  vii.  lib.  i.  pag.  26.  torn  1.  edit.  cit.  In  another  place  he  says,  *•  Fa- 
cilis  est  sedificiorum  ruina  incolarum  subtracta  custodia,"  &c. 

**^'  Quod  audiens  Vitiges,  ut  leo  furibundus  omnem  Gothorum  exerci- 

tum Ravennaquc  egressus  Romanas  arces  obsidione  looga  fatigat." 

Jornand.  de  rebus  Geticis,  cap.  00.  pag.  178.  edit.  1697, 


51 

q£  the  aqueducts,  which  rendered  useless  the  immense  ther- 
mae ;  and  as  these  appear  never  to  have  been  frequented  af- 
terwards, their  dilapidation  must  be  partially,  but  only  par- 
tially, ascribed  to  the  Goths.  Vitiges  burnt  every  thing  with- 
out the  walls,  and  commenced  the  desolation  of  the  Cam- 
pagna.*  Totilat  is  known  to  have  burnt  a  third  part  of  the 
walls,  and  although  he  desisted  from  his  meditated  destruc- 
tion of  every  monument,  the  extent  of  the  injury  inflicted  by 
that  conqueror  may  have  been  greater  than  is  usually  sup- 
posed. Procopius  affirms,  that  he  did  burn  "  not  a  small  por- 
tion of  the  city,"  especially  beyond  the  Tiber.J  An  author 
of  the  Chronicles  records  a  fire,  and  the§  total  abandonment 
of  the  city  for  more  than  forty  days :  and  it  must  be  men- 
tioned, that  there  is  no  certain  trace  of  the  palace  of  the  Cae- 
sars having  survived  the  irruption  of  Totila.||  It  must  have 
been  at  his  second  entry  that  this  monarch  "  lived  with  the 
Romans  as  a  father  with  his  children,"  and  not  at  the  first,  as 
might  be  thought  from  the  Annals  of  Italy.**    In  the  five  cap- 

*  St.  Anaatasii,  de  vitis.  Pontific  Rom.  edit.  Bianchini.  Romae  1731.  is 
vit.  S.  Silverii.  pag.  84. 

t  Tvoiii  Si  tav-ta  6   Twi'iXaj*  tyva   (tiv   pdfitjv  Md^(%ilv  ij  tSa^oi 

i^v  [lev  ovv  ttipi^oXov  Iv  x*^p'-OH  rt,o%>joit  t'oX^.oT;  toaovtov  xo^ftXcc,  wsw  t$ 
HpftrilMpiov  fov  ftavtoi  (idxiara,  i/iftirtfxw  is  ts  t^v  oixoBofJUum  to,  xdjAiati  n 
xo.\  alfroXoytdf afo,  iHiXXi  'putiMjv  Sf  /wyXo/Jorof  xar'adT'^SfO^t  ....  Bellum 
Gothic,  rj '  p.  289.  edit  cit- 

X  Ibid.  lib.  iv.  cap.  2^  and  cap.  33. 

^  "  Totila  dolo  Isaurorum  ingreditur  Rornam  die  xvi.  kal.  Januarias, 
ac  evertit  nauros,  domos  aliquantas  comburens,  ac  omnesRomanorumres 
in  prsedam  accepit.  Ho9  ipsos  Romanos  in  Campaniam  captivos  ab- 
duxit ;  post  quam  devastationem  xl  aut  amplius  dies  Roma  fuit  ita  deso- 
lata  ut  nemo  ibi  hominum  nisi  bestise  morarentur.  Hinc  veniens  Belisa- 
rius  murorum  partem  restaurat,  venienteque  Totila  ad  pugnam  resistit." 
Marcellini.  Chronic,  ap.  Sirmond.  p-  295.  edit  cit. 

II  See  a  note  on  the  Palatine. 

**  Muratori  seems  to  confound  the  two  captures.  Annali  d'ltalia,  torn 
iii.  p  410.41 1,  ad  an.  456,  and  p.  420.  ad  an.  549.  As  the  Isaurians  were 
the  traitors  on  both  occasions,  the  confusion  was  the  more  natural ;  but  it 
certainly  was  of  the  second  capture  tliat  Anastasius  spoke  in  the  follow- 
ing words :  "  Die  autem  tertia  decima  Totila  introivit  in  civitatem  Roma- 
nam  indict.  14.  (IS)  per  portam  sancti  Pauli.  Tota  enim  nocte  fecit  buc- 
ciaa  claogi  usque  dum  cunctus  populus  fugeret,  aut  per  ecclcsias  se  ceta- 


52 

tures  of  Rome  (Aom  536  to  552)  in  which  she  was  both  at* 
tacked  and  defended  by  Barbarians,  it  is  impossible  but  that 
many  of  the  architectural  ornaments  of  the  city  must  have 
been  utterly  destroyed  or  partially  injured;  and  the  particular 
mention  made  by  Procopius  of  the  care  taken  by  Narses  to 
restore  the  capital,  is  an  evidence  of  the  previous  injury.* 

With  Totila,  the  dilapidation  of  Rome  by  the  Barbarians  is 
generally  allowed  to  terminate.  The  incursion  of  the  Lom- 
bards in  578  and  593,  completed  the  desolation  of  the  Cam- 
pagria,  but  did  not  affect  the  city  itself.  Their  king  Liut- 
prand  in  741  had  been  absolved  from  his  supposed  violence;! 
but  Astolphus  in  754  did  assault  the  city  furiously,  and  what- 
ever structures  were  near  the  walls  must  be  supposed  to  have 
suffered  fiom  his  attack. J  From  that  period  Rome  was  not 
forcibly  entered,  that  is,  not  after  a  siege,  until  the  fall  of  the 
Carlovingian  race,  when  it  was  defended  by  Barbarians  in 
tlic  name  of  the  emperor  Lambert,  and  assaulted  and  taken 
by  Barbarians,  commanded  by  Arnulphus,  son  of  Carloman  of 
Bavaria  (A.  D.  896).  It  has  been  agreed  not  to  give  this  in- 
vidious name  to  the  Germans  under  the  Othos,  the  Henries, 
and  the  Frederics,  or  to  the  Normans  of  Guiscard ;  but  it  is 
hoped  that,  without  including  these  spoilers,  enough  has  been 
said  to  show  that  the  absolution  of  the  earlier  Barbarians  from 
all  charge  of  injury  done  to  the  public  edifices  of  Ronje,  is 
only  one  of  the  many  paradoxes  which  are  to  be  cleared  from 
the  surface  of  Italian  literature. § 

vet  ne  gladio  Romani  vitam  finirent.  Ingressus  autem  rex  habitavit  cum 
Romanis  quam  pater  cum  filiis."  In  vit.  Vigllii.  edit-  citat.  pag-  89.  Mu- 
ratori  mentions  that  the  Isaurians  opened  the  Jlsinarian  gate  at  the  first 
capture,  and  the  gatt  of  St-  Paul  at  the  second,  and  yet  he  applies  the 
clemency  of  Totila  to  his  entry  by  the  first,  not,  as  Anastasius  says,  by 
the  second  gate. 

*  De  Bell.  Gothic  lib.  iv.  cap.  34.  The  bridges  of  Narses  over  the 
Anio  remain  to  attest  his  diligence. 

f  Annali  d'ltalia,  tom.  iv.  pag.  234. 

X  Annali,  fee.  tom.  iv.  pag  312. 

J^  "  In  cio  nondimeno  che  appartiene  a'  pubblici  edificj  di  Roma,  doU- 
biam  confessare  a  gloria  de'  Barbari  stessi,  che  non  troviam  prova  alcana 
che  da  essi  fossero  rovinati  o  arsi."  Tiraboschi.  Storia  della  Lett.  8tc. 
lorn.  ii.  par.  i.  lib.  i-  pag-  74.  After  such  an  assertion,  the  learned  librariaii 
need  not  hare  been  surprised  that  the  author  of  the  M^moires  pour  la  vie 


53 
Stanza  LXXX. 

— the  Christian- 

The  injuries  done  by  the  Christian  clergy  to  the  architec- 
tural beauty  of  Rome,  may  be  divided  into  two  kinds :  those 
which  were  commanded  or  connived  at  by  the  Popes  for  use- 
ful repairs  or  constructions,  and  those  which  were  encouraged 
or  permitted  from  motives  of  fanaticism.  It  will  be  easy  to 
make  the  distinction  without  the  division,  and  very  different 
feelings  will  be  excited  by  dilapidations  for  the  service  of  the 
eity  and  for  that  of  the  church. 

The  conversion  of  Constantine  cannot  be  denied  to  have 
changed  the  destination  of  many  public  buildings,  and  to  have 
excited  a  demand  for  the  ornaments  of  the  baptized  Basilica, 
which,  we  have  ocular  proof  at  this  day,  was  satisfied  at  the 
expense  of  other  edifices.  If  an  arch  of  Trajan  was  despoil- 
ed to  adorn  his  triumph,  other  structures  were  robbed  to  con- 
tribute to  the  splendour  of  his  conversion.*  The  figure  and 
the  decorations  of  buildings  appropriated  to  the  new  religion, 
necessarily  were  partially  changed,  and  that  such  a  change 
was  detrimental  to  their  architecture,  the  early  Basilical 
churches  still  exist  as  an  evidence.!  The  temples  of  Rome 
were  not  universally  shut  until  the  edict  of  Honorius 
(A.  D.  399),  but  an  Italian  writer|  has  shown,  with  some  sue- 


de P^trarque  (p.  514)  exclaimed,  "  II  faut  avouer  qu'il  y  a  dans  votre  litte- 
rature  dos  choses  singulieres  et  tout  a  fait  incoiicevables."  See  Storia, 
Sic  torn.  V.  par-  1 1 .  lib.  iii.  pag.  460- 

*  Nardini,  Lib.  vi.  cap.  xv.  seetns  to  doubt  or  not  to  determine  this,  but 
owns  the  sculpture  is  of  the  time  of  Trajan.  A  part  of  this  arch  was  dug 
up  near  the  column  of  Trajan  in  the  time  of  Vacca. 

t  Look  at  the  church  of  St  Agnes  without  the  walls.  The  Christians 
took  or  imitated  ornaments  o/'all  kinds  from  the  temples.  In  that  church 
the  pomegranates  of  Proserpine,  the  emblem  of  mortality,  are  on  the  ba- 
lustrades of  the  high  altar.  A  thousand  years  afterwards,  Leda  and  the 
Swan  were  still  thought  appropriate  figures  for  the  bronze  doors  of  St. 
Peter's. 

I  Pietro  Lazeri,  discorso  della  consecrazionc  del  Panteone  fatta  da  Bo- 
nifa2{iQ  IV.  Roiria,  1749.  pp.  39,  40. 


54 

cess,  that  Christianity  had  been  actively  employed  before  that 
period  in  destroying  the  symbols  and  haunts  of  the  ancient 
superstition. 

A  law  of  Theodosius  the  Great  ordered  the  destruction  of 
the  temples  at  Alexandria,*  and  though  it  has  been  trium- 
phantly quoted  in  favour  of  christian  forbearance,  that  St.  Am- 
brose! found  the  baths,  the  porticos,  and  the  squares  of  Rome 
full  of  idols  in  383 ;  yet  another  saint  boasts,  that  in  405  ajl 
the  statues  in  the  temples  were  overthrown.^  The  sale  of 
the  idols  in  Greece  had  begun  with  Constantine.§  The  law 
of  Honorius,  which  forbade  the  destruction  of  the  edifices 
themselves,  proves,  if  any  thing,  that  such  an  outrage  had  been 
perpetrated,  and  was  to  be  apprehended.  A  prohibitory 
edict  must  suppose  an  offence.  It  is  not  easy  to  interpret,  in 
more  than  one  way,  the  following  words  of  St.  Jerome :  "  The 
golden  Capitol  has  lost  all  its  splendour ;  the  temples  of  Rome 
are  covered  with  dust  and  cobwebs  ;  the  very  city  is  moved 
from  its  foundations,  and  the  overflowing  people  rush  before 
the  half  torn-up  shrines  to  the  tombs  of  the  martyrs."||  The 
squalid  appearance  of  the  Capitol  is  mentioned  in  another  pas- 
sage of  the  same  writer,**  where  the  temples  of  Jove  and  his 

*  Socrat.  Hist.  Ecclesias.  lib.  v.  cap.  xvi.  The  bishop  Theophilui 
marched  about  the  town  carrying  in  triumph  the  phalli  taken  from  the 
Serapeon. 

t  "  Non  illis  satis  sunt  lavacra,  non  porticus,  non  plateae  occupatie  sirau- 
lacris  ?"  D.  Ambros.  epist.  cont  Symmach.  Lugd.  Bat.  1653.  p.  455. 
"  Eversis  in  urbe  Roma  omnibus  simulacris."  Serm.  de  verb,  evang.  cap. 
10.  n.  13.  in  fin-  oper.  torn.  v.  par.  1.  col.  547. 

X  Dissertazione  sulle  rovine  di  Roma,  dall'  Abate  Carlo  Fea,  Storia 
delle  Arti,  &c.  torn,  iii  p.  267  to  416.  edit  Rom.  1784.  The  Abate 
strangely  quotes  St.  Ambrose  against  St.  Augustine,  who  talks  of  Rome 
eighteen  years  afterwards. 

§  "Ert  Si  xat  iuv  E^X»;vwv  j'oovj  xy.Uutv  xa)  xav>aipiZv  xai  Snjnogitvuv  to, 
iv  aivtw.i  oyaJLjuafo.     Socrat.  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  i.  cap.  iii. 

II  "  Auratum  squalot  Capitolium.  Fu%ine  et  araneorum  telis  omnia 
Romae  templa  cooperta  sunt-  Movetur  urbs  sedibus  suis,  et  inundans  po- 
pulus  ante  delubra  serai ruta  currit  ad  martyrum  tumulos."  Epist.  cvii.  ad 
Laetara,  Hieron.  opera,  torn.  i.  p.  672.  Veron,  1734.  Yet  this  was  before 
Christianity  could  be  traced  back  two  generations  in  Rome.  "Fiunt  non 
nascuntur  Christiani,"  says  the  same  saint  in  the  same  place. 

**  "  Squalet  Capitolium,  templa  Jovis  et  caeremoniac  conciderunt."  Lib. 
2.  advere.  Jovinian,  torn.  ii.  p.  384- 


S5 

ceremonies  are  said  metaphorically,  or  actually,  to  have  fallen 
down.  In  the  year  426,  Theodosius  the  younger  ordered  the 
destruction  of  the  temples  and  fanes.  A  commentator*  has 
endeavoured  to  reason  this  away,  and  another  writer  has  been 
eager  to  show,  that  the  mandate  was  addressed  to  the  eastern 
Illyricum.  To  this  it  may  be  replied,  that  it  is  to  be  inferred, 
that  province  was  thought  most  attached  to  paganism,  arid  that 
the  temples  had  been  preserved  there,  when  in  the  capitals 
they  had  been  overthrown.  An  ecclesiastical  writer,  only 
twelve  years  after  this  law,  talks  of  the  order,  or  of  the  effect 
of  it,  as  being  general ;  saying,  that  "  the  destruction  of  the 
idolatrous  fanes  was  from  the  foundation,  and  so  complete,  that 
his  cotemporaries  could  not  perceive  a  vestige  of  the  former  su- 
perstition,''^] The  same  author  has  a  much  stronger  expres- 
sion in  another  passage  :  "  Their  temples  are  so  destroyed,  that 
the  appearance  of  their  form  no  longer  remains,  npr  can  those 
of  our  times  recognise  the  shape  of  their  altars:  as  for  their 
materials,  they  are  dedicated  to  the  fanes  of  the  martyrs.^ ''I  The 
opinion  of  the  Cardinal  Baronius  is  positive  to  the  zeal  and 
the  destruction.  "  As  soon  as  this  long  desired  permission  of 
breaking  the  idols  was  obtained  from  the  christian  prince,  the 
just  zeal  of  the  christian  people  broke  out  at  last  in  the  throw- 
ing down  and  breaking  of  the  pagan  gods."     And  he  before 


*  Godefroy,  [Gottofredus] — Dissertazione  sulle  Rovine,  Sic.  p.  £84. 
note(C).  The  words  are,  "  cunctaque  eorum  fana,  templa,  dclubra,  si- 
qua  etiam  nunc  restant  Integra,  prsecepto  magistratuum  destrui,  conloca- 
tioneque  venerandae  Christianae  religionis  signi  expiari  praecipinaus."  Co* 
dex  Theod.  lib.  xvi.  tit-  10.  de  Pagan,  sacrif.  et  templis  leg.  18. 

t  Tovtov  S'^  'ivtxa  xai  avta,  tCHv  itSuXixuv  eijxCJv  ta  Xtvrtofuva  ix  jSa^pwi^ 
waSHae^vai  jtpootf otlfv  <3(J*t  tolj  fii9'  ijf»,a,i  iaof*,ivavi  fit^Bev  ixvoi  i^i  rtpo- 
nipai  itattdttji  ^taaaoetan.  Theodoriti  Episcop.  Cyri.  Ecclesias.  Hist.  lib. 
V.  cap.  37.  p.  243.  edit  Amstelod.  1695.  He  published  his  history  about 
439.    See  the  preface  by  Valesius. 

X  "  Horura  namque  templa  sic  destructa  sunt  ut  ne  figurarum  quidem 
permansit  species,  nee  ararura  formam  hujus  saeculi  homines  sciant :  ha- 
rum  autem  materia  omnis  martyrum  fanis  dicata  est."  From  Theodo- 
refs  eighth  discourse  on  the  martyrs.  The  translation  of  Sirmond  is 
<}uoted,  the  origiaal  Bot  being  before  the  writer 


56 

exclaims,  '•  It  is  incredible  with  what  animosity  the  Faithful  at 
Rome  leapt  upon  the  idols.* 

After  this  law,  no  mention  is  made  in  the  codes  of  temples 
or  their  materials,  and  if  these  edifices  were  legally  protected 
up  to  the  time  of  Justinian,  they  must  be  supposed  to  be  in- 
cluded under  the  head  of  public  buildings.  Their  protection 
is,  however,  very  doubtful.  Temples  are  not  found  amongs^ 
the  wonders  admired  by  Theodoric,  except  the  half  stripped 
Capitoline  fane  is  to  be  enumerated:  and  Procopius  confines 
his  notices  to  the  Temple  of  Peace,  which  he  alludes  to  cur- 
sorily, as  being  in  the  Forum  of  that  name,t  and  to  the  Tem- 
ple of  Janus,  J  whose  doors  there  was  still  enough  of  pleasantry 
or  paganism  left  in  Rome  to  attempt  to  open  during  the  dis- 
tress of  the  Gothic  siege.  Stilicho§  found  no  law  to  prevent 
him  or  his  wife  from  partially  stripping  off  the  ornaments  of  the 
Capitoline  Temple,  and  the  burning  of  the  Sybilline  books  by 
the  same  christian  hero,  evinces  the  temper  of  the  times.  In 
the  reign  of  Justinian,  a  widow  was  in  possession  of  the  ruins 
of  a  temple  on  the  Quirinal,  and  made  a  present  of  eight  co- 
lumns to  the  Emperor  for  his  metropolitan  St.  Sophia. ||  The 
temples  then  were  partly  in  private  hands,  and  therefore  not 
universally  protected  as  public  edifices.     The  pagan  struc- 

*  "  Haec  semel  a  christiaiio  principe  idola  frangendi  inipetrata  diu  op- 
tata  licentia,  exarsit  christiani  populi  Justus  zelus  in  desturbandis  confrin- 

gendiscjuc  deorum  gentilitium    simulacris vix   credi  potest 

qnanta  animositate  Fideles  Romse  in  idola  insilierint"  Annales  Ecclesias. 
cum  critice  Pagi,  torn-  vi  p.  51-  Lucse.  1740.  The  cardinal  talks  of  a  pe- 
riod rather  prior  even  to  the  date  of  Theodoret-  Temples,  in  certain  pre- 
cincts, were  perhaps  saved  from  violence-  "  Claudian  boasts  that  Hono- 
rius  was  guarded  in  the  Palatine  by  the  temples  of  the  gods."  "  Tot  cir- 
cum  delubra  videt"  fcc     See  note  on  the  Palatine. 

f  Lib-  iv.  Bell  Goth.  cap.  xxi.    Maltrito  interprete. 

X  Lib.  i.  cap.  2.0.  ibid. 

v^  "  Nam  Zosimus  tradit  cum  Theodosius  Romam  venit,  hoc  scilicet 
anno,  Stiliconem  ducem  utriustjue  militise  e  foribus  Capitolii  laminas  au- 
reas  abstnlisse,  ejusque  wxorem  Serenam  nomine,  detraxisse  o  colloRhese 
deorum  matri  mundum  muliebrcm  suoque  ipsius  illigasse  collo."  Baron. 
Ann.  Eccl-  ad  an.  389.  in  loc  et  edit  citat.  For  the  burning  the  Syblllrne 
books,  see  the  same  place,  and  the  Iter  of  Rutilius. 

II  Winkelmann,  Osservazioni  suU'  architettura  degli  anticht.  cap.  ir.  sec. 
4-  p.  88.  note  (B).  DissertaaofK".  Stc-  p.  S02-  note  (D),  tora.  iii.  of  Fea's 
translation. 


37 

lures  would  naturally  suffer  more  at  the  first  triumph  of  Chris- 
tianity than  afterwards,  when  the  rage  and  the  merit  of  destruc- 
tion must  have  diminished.  And  after  the  danger  of  a  relapse 
was  no  longer  to  be  feared,  it  is  not  unlikely  that  some  of  the 
precious  vestiges  of  the  ancient  worship  might  be  considered 
under  the  guard  of  the  laws.  In  this  way  we  may  account  for 
the  permission  asked  in  one  instance  to  despoil  a  temple  for  the 
ornament  of  a  church  ;*  a  circumstance  which  is  quoted  to 
show  the  care  of  those  structures,  but  which  is  surely  as  fair  a 
proof  of  their  neglect.!  The  consecration  of  the  Pantheon  did 
not  take  place  until  609  or  610,  two  hundred  years  after  the 
shutting  of  the  temples  ;  and  that  event  is  allowed  to  be  the 
first  recorded  instance  of  a  similar  conversion.  If  many  of  the 
immense  number  of  fanes  and  temples  had  been  preserved  en- 
tire until  that  time,  it  is  probable  that  the  example  would  have 
been  followed  in  more  cases  than  we  know  to  have  been  adopt- 
ed. The  Christians  found  the  form  of  the  Basilica  much  more 
suitable  to  their  worship  than  that  of  the  temple.  They  did 
not  consecrate  a  single  sacred  edifice  for  more  than  two  hun- 
dred years  after  the  triumph  of  their  religion.  They  cannot 
be  proved  to  have  ever  taken  the  entire  form  of  more  than  four 
or  five. I  What  was  the  fate  of  the  remainder  ?  We  hear  oi" 
fifty-six  churches  built  upon  the  sites,  or  supposed  sites,  of 
temples. §  Is  it  then  too  rash  to  believe  that  so  many  struc- 
tures which  we  know  to  have  disappeared  at  an  early  period; 
which  were  abandoned,  which  were  regarded  as  an  abomina- 
tion, and  which  tradition  declares  to  have  stood  upon  the  sites 

*  "  Hie  coopcruit  ecclesiam  omnem  ex  tegulis  aereiis  quag  levarit  dc 
tenaplo,  quod  appellatur  Romse  [Romuli]  ex  consensu  piissimi  Heraclei 
imperatoris."  Anastas.  in  vit.  Honorii  I.  p.  96.  torn.  i.  edit,  citat.  The 
temple  is  called  the  temple  of  Romulus  in  Via  Sacra,  in  the  life  of  Paul 
I.  p.  175.  torn.  i.  he-  The  church  which  gained  by  the  robbery  was  St- 
Peter's. 

t  Dissertazione,  he  p.  286. 

t  The  Pantheon,  Cosmas  and  Damianus,  St-  Theodore,  St-  Stephano 
in  Rotundis  (perhaps),  St  Maria,  Egizziaca  (doubtful),  the  supposed  tem- 
ple of  Vesta  on  the  Tiber,  St-  Hadrian  (the  facade  torn  off).  Can  any 
other  be  mentioned  ?  < 

^  See  De  templis  gentilitium  in  templa  divorura  mutatis,  cap.  ix.  Georg. 
Fabricii,  Descriptio  Romae  ap.  Graev.  Aatiq.  Roman,  torn.  iii.  p.  46»; 


5B 

of  churches,  were  despoiled,  for  the  most  part,  by  the  zeal  of 
the  early  Christians,  and  their  materials  employed  to  the  ho- 
nour of  the  triumphant  religion  ?  It  is  particularly  told  of 
Gregory  III.  that  he  finished  a  chapel  to  certain  martyrs  in 
ruins.*  Most  of  the  lives  of  the  early  Popes  inAnastasius  con- 
sist of  little  else  than  the  building  of  churches.  Those  of  Ha- 
drian I.,  Leo  III.,  and  Gregory  IV.,  occupy  many  pages  with 
the  mere  enumeration  of  their  names.!  Both  piety  and  eco- 
nomy would  prompt  the  spoliation  of  the  nearest  ancient  struc- 
tures connected  with  the  old  superstition  5  and  the  only  indul- 
gence shown  to  the  pagan  deities  was,  when  their  baptism 
might,  by  a  little  distortion,  intrust  their  fanes  to  the  protec- 
tion of  a  similar  saint.^ 

The  more  prominent  symbols  of  the  ancient  religion  would 
hardly  be  suffered  to  stand  after  the  temples  were  shut.  Da 
Barga  asserts  as  a  fact,  that  there  were  marks  on  the  obelisks 
of  their  having  been  all  overthrown,  with  the  exception  of 
one,  which  was  not  dedicated  to  any  of  the  false  gods  of  an- 
tiquity.§  However,  Constantius  erected  one  of  these  monu- 
ments,||  and  two  were  standing  in  the  IXth  century,  if  we  are 
to  credit  a  barbarous  regionary  of  that  period.**     Da  Barga 

*  "  CEemeterium  beatorura  martyrum  Januarii,  Urbani,  Tiburtii,  Vale- 
riani,  et  Maximi,  et  eorura  tecta  in  ruinis  posita  perfecit."  Anastas-  in 
vit.  Gregor.  Ill-  p- 145.  torn.  i.  edit,  citat  We  find  Pope  John  III.  after- 
wards livin?;  in  this  cemetery. 

f  See  an  account  of  the  rapid  building  of  churches  by  the  Popes  after 
Gregory  TIL  in  Donatus.    Roma  vetus,  lib.  iv.  cap.  viii- 

J  Thus  Romulus  and  Remus  became  Cosmas  and  Daraianus.  Romu- 
lus, a  foundling  and  a  warrior,  and  a  healer  of  young  children,  was 
changed  for  St-  Theodore,  a  foundling  and  warrior,  and  also  healer  of 
children.  Mars  had  not  a  violent  metamorphosis  to  reappear  as  St.  Mar- 
tina ;  but  there  is  some  doubt  of  the  latter  conversion. 

^  That  of  the  Vatican.  See  de  privatorum  publicorumque,  &c.  p. 
1891,  in  loco  citato.  "  Neque  enim  existimare  possumus  cseteros  obe- 
liscos  vel  terrae  raotu  vel  fulmine  dejectos  esse  cum  vectium  et  ferramen- 
torum  vestigia,  quibus  eversi  sunt  adhuc  extant  in  infimse  partis  lateribus 
quje  basim  spectant." 

H  That  now  standing  before  the  Lateran. 

**  The  pyramid  of  Sallust,  and  the  pyramid  near  St.  Lorenzo  in  Lnci- 
aiia.    The  regionary  is  quoted  afterwards. 


69 

extends  his  praise  of  the  pontiffs  to  the  destruction  of  the 
theatres  and  circuses,  the  frequenting  of  which,  dedicated  as 
they  were  to  false  gods,  Lactantius  and  Tertullian  thought 
equally  nefarious  with  sacrificing  to  Jove  or  Serapis.  We 
know  that  an  attempt  was  made  to  put  the  Circensian  games 
at  Rome  under  new  patronage,  but  that  they  were  entirely 
discontinued  in  the  year  496,  when  the  people  declared  they 
would  not  have  Jesus  Christ  in  the  place  of  Mars,  and  the 
provision  for  the  festival  was  distributed  to  the  poor.*  The 
same  writer,  after  a  diligent  study  of  the  fathers,  and  having 
commenced  with  the  contrary  opinion,  is  convinced  that 
Gregory  the  Great  was  the  chief  instrument  of  this  destruc- 
tion, and  notably  of  the  Circus  Maximus,  near  which  he  built 
a  church. t  The  Circus,  however,  is  recorded  by  the  region- 
ary  of  the  IXth  century.J  The  baths,  a  greater  abomina- 
tion, he  is  also  convinced  owed  their  destruction  to  the  same 
piety,  and  those  of  Diocletian  and  Caracalla  showed  in  his 
time  evident  marks  of  human  violence.  He  adds,  that  there 
is  no  proof  of  these  immense  structures  having  been  ruined  by 
earthquakes,  and  to  this  it  may  be  subjoined,  that  when  the 
Roman  families  of  the  middle  ages  had  occupied  the  Coliseum 
and  other  ancient  monuments,  they  did  not  take  possession  of 
the  baths,  with  the  exception  of  those  of  Constantine  on  the 
Quirinal.  The  last  mention  of  them  in  any  way  that  can 
make  us  suppose  them  entire,  is  in  the  regionary  of  the  IXth 
century.  Their  precious  materials,  statues,  and  marble  coat' 
ings  and  columns,  would  naturally  be  carried  away  when  the 
baths  had  ceased  to  be  frequented ;  but  sorae  violence  must 
have  been  necessary  to  throw  down  so  large  a  portion  of  their 
masses  :  nor  could  this  be  done  for  tlie  sake  of  grinding  down 
their  materials,  which  are  of  brick.  So  early  as  the  tenth 
century,  there  were  three  churches  built  in  the  Alexandrine 

*  Baronius,  Annal.  Ecclesias.  ad  an.  496.  p.  606.  torn.  viii.  edit,  citat. 

f  De  privatorum  publicorumque,  &c.  p.  1889. 

\  The  last  vestiges  of  the  Circus  Maximus  were  carried  away  about  the 
time  of  Paul  V.  Sec  Vedute  degli  Antichi  Vestigj  di  Roma  di  A16  Gio- 
vanniii,.  in  the  plate  representing  those  ruins. 

8 


baths,*'  which  must  therefore  have  been  previously  in  ruing* 
It  must  be  confessed,  at  the  same  time,  that  the  evidence 
against  the  Christians  is  not  equally  strong  when  applied  to  the 
theatres  and  thermae,  as  it  appears  to  be  referring  to  the 
temples.  As  the  defence  of  Gregory  the  Great  has  been  suc- 
cessfully undertaken  against  his  principal  accuser,  it  is  of  lit- 
tle moment  to  mention  that  a  Monsignor  Segardi,  in  a  speech 
which  he  recited  in  the  Capitolt  in  1 703,  was  bold  enough  te 
state  and  enforce  his  belief  of  all  the  charges  made  against 
the  saint,  none  of  which  can  be  traced  higher  than  nearly  six 
centuries  after  his  death. |  The  discouragement  of  mathesis^ 
tvhether  it  meant  magic  or  profane  learning  in  general,  would 
be  only  a  presumptive  proof  of  the  tasteless  ignorance  or  cre- 
dulity of  the  pontiff;  and  a  more  satisfactory  argument  than 
the  silence  of  his  biographers  may  be  deduced  from  the  be- 
lief that  Gregory  had  but  little  time  or  means  for  the  build- 
ing of  churches,  and  consequently  for  the  spoliation  of  an- 
cient edifices.  He  is  not  to  be  suspected  of  wanton  violence, 
for  the  destruction  of  buildings  is  the  subject  of  one  of  the 
complaints  with  which  he  bewails  the  wretchedness  of  the 
limes. §  A  large  column  was,  however,  transferred  in  those 
days,  (608)  from  some  other  structure  to  the  Forum,  and  de- 

*  Roma  ex  ethnica  sacra.  Martinelli,  cap.  ix.  p.  167,  quoted  in  Dis- 
sertazione,  fee.  p.  358. 

t  Prose  degli  Arcadi,  torn.  i.  p.  126.  Dissertazione,  p.  287,  note  (H.) 

I  Jacob.  Brucker,  Historiee  criticse  philosophise,  from  page  633  t* 
page  672,  edit.  Lips.  1768.  sect.  iii.  de  nat.  et  indole  et  modo  Phil.  Schol. 
"in  appendlce.  Do  what  he  will,  Brucker  cannot  trace  any  of  the  stories, 
the  suppression  of  mathesis,  the  statue-breaking,  or  library-burning, 
higher  than  John  of  Salisbury.  He  made  a  great  mistake  in  calling  Gre- 
gory the  master  of  John  Diaconus,  who  lived  two  centuries  afterwards, 
and  is  reproved  by  Tiraboschi.  Storia,  fee.  torn.  iii.  lib.  ii.  p.  99  to  p.  114. 
edit.  Venet.  1795-  The  story  of  his  throwing  down  the  statues  can  only 
be  traced  to  Leo  of  Orvietto,  a  Dominican  writer  of  the  XlVth  century. 
See  Testimonia  quorundam  veterum  scriptorum  de  St.  Gregorio  Papa, 
at  the  end  of  the  Venice  edition  of  St.  Gregory's  works ;  and  St.  Gre- 
gorius  Magnus  vindicatus,  by  Gian  Girolamo  Gradenigo,  in  the  xvith 
volume. 

'^  "  Ipsa  quoque  liestrui  sedificia  videmus.'*  Horailia  in  Ezecbielenj< 
lib.  ii.  hom.  vi.  p.  70. 4om.  v.  0pp.  omn.  Venet.  1776. 


61 

bleated  to  the  murderer  Phocas.  The  successors  of  Gregory 
were  less  scrupulous,  it  should  seem,  than  himself.  We 
have  seen  that  Honorius  I.  removed  the  gilt  tiles  from  the 
temples  of  Romulus.  Gregory  III.  employed  nine  columns 
of  some  ancient  building  for  the  church  of  St.  Peter.* 
The  rebuilding  of  the  city  walls  by  four  Popes  in  the  same 
century  (Vlllth),  Sisinius,  Gregory  II.  and  III.  and  St.  Adrian 
I.  was  an  useful  but  destructive  operation.!  Their  lime-kilns 
must  have  been  supplied  from  the  ancient  city.  It  is  to  a 
presumed  necessity,  and  not  to  superstition,  that  the  succeed- 
ing spohation  of  the  ancient  works  of  art  by  the  Popes  must 
chiefly  be  attributed ;  but  it  will  be  observed  that  the  embel- 
lishment of  the  christian  churches  was  the  chief  motive  for 
this  destruction,  and  consequently  ranks  it  in  the  class  at  pre» 
aent  under  examination.  Pope  Hadrian  I.,  by  the  infinite  la- 
bour of  the  people  employed  during  a  whole  year,  threw 
down  an  immense  structure  of  Tiburtine  stone  to  enlarge  the 
church  of  St.  Maria  in  Cosmedin.|  Donus  I.  (elected  in 
676)  had  before  stripped  the  marble  from  a  large  pyramid  be- 
tween the  Vatican  and  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  vuJgaily 
known  by  the  name  of  the  tomb  of  Scipio.§  The  spoil  was 
laid  on  the  floor  of  the  atrium  of  St.  Peter.  The  history  of 
the  middle  ages  cannot  be  supposed  to  have  preserved  many 
such  precise  records ;  but  the  times  after  the  return  of  the 

*  Anastas.  in  vit.  St.  Greg.  II. 

•j- "  Qui  et  calcarias  pro  restauratione  murorum  jussit  decoqucre.'' 
Anastas.  in  vit.  Sisinii,  p.  127.  torn.  i.  edit,  citat.  He  was  Pope  in  708^ 
**  Hie  exordio  Pontificatus  sui  calcarias  decoqui  jussit,  et  a  porta  sancti 
Laurentii  inchoans  liujus  civitatis  muros  restaurare  decreverat,  et  aliquam 
partem  faciens  emergentibus  incongruis,  variisque  tumultibus,  praspiditus 
est."  Ibid,  in  vit.  St.  Gregorii  II.  who  was  Pope  from  714  to  731, 
"  Hujus  temporibus  plurima  pars  murorum  hujus  civitatis  Romanae  re^ 
stuarata  sunt."  Ibid,  in  vit.  Gregorii  III.  p.  145.  See  also  the  same  in 
vit.  St.  Hddriani,  p.  210,  Gregory  was  Pope  from  731  to  740 — Hadrian 
from  772  to  794. 

X  '*  Nam  maximum  monumentum  de  Tiburtino  tufo  super  earn  depen- 
dens  per  anni  circalum  plurimum  multitudinem  populi  congruens  multo- 
rumque  lignorum  struem  incendens  demolitus  est."  Anastas.  in  vit.  St. 
Hadriani,  1.  p.  £14.  edit,  citat:  he  repeats  it  in  the  next  page. 

^  Nardini,  Roma  Ant.  lib.  vii.  cap.  xiii. 


62 

Popes  from  Avignon  are  sufficiently  eloquent.  Paul  II.*  em- 
ployed the  stones  of  the  Coliseum  to  build  a  palace.  Sixtus 
IV.  took  down  a  temple,  supposed  by  Pomponius  Lsetus  that 
of  Hercules,  near  St.  Maria,  in  Cosmedin  ;t  and  the  same 
pontiff  destroyed  the  remains  of  an  ancient  bridge  to  make 
400  cannon  balls  for  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo.J  Alexander 
VI.§  threw  down  the  pyramid  which  Donus  had  stripped  to 
make  a  ^;ay  for  his  gallery  between  the  Vatican  and  the  cas- 
tle of  St.  Angclo.  Paul  III.  and  his  nephews  laboured  in- 
cessantly at  the  quarry  of  the  Coliseum.  This  pope  applied 
himself  to  the  Theatre  of  Marcellus,  to  the  Forum  of  Tra- 
jan, to  a  temple  usually  rallad  of  Pallas,  opposite  the  Temple 
of  Faustinj^  to  that  teiUplc  itself,  to  the  Arch  of  Titus,  and 
to  a  large  mass  of  ancient  work  which  he  levelled  to  the 
ground  in  the  Piazza  del  Popolo,|'[  and  had  not  the  excuse  of 
piety  for  this  wide  devastation. 

Sixtus  V.  carrAjd  away  the  remains  of  the  Septizonium  of 
Severus  for  the  service  of  St.  Peter's,  and  a  cotemporary 
positively  mentions  that  he  threw  down  certain  statues  still 
remaining  in  the  Capitol.**     Urban  VIII.  took  off  the  bronze 

*  See  Donatus,  Roma  Vetus,  lib.  iv.  cap.  ix,  for  Paul  II.  who  reigned 
from  1464  to  1470. 

f  Donatus,  he.  lib.  £.  cap.  25. 

J  Stephen.  Infessura,  Diar.  Urb.  Rom.  says  this  happened  in  1484.  The 
bridge  was  called  that  of  Horatius  Codes,  "  e  le  dette  palle  furono  fa- 
bricate a  raarmorata  dove  fu  finito  di  distruiggere  un  ponte  di  travertin© 
rotto,  il  quale  si  chiamava  il  ponte  di  Orazio  Codes."  Scriptores  Rer. 
Italic,  torn,  iii  part  ii.  p.  1178. 

5^  The  pyramid  was  bigger  than  that  of  Cestius,  was  mentioned  by 
Bloiidus,  Fulvius,  and  Marlianus,  and  is  seen  on  the  bronze  doors  of  St, 
Peter's.  Nardini.  lib.  vii  cap.  xiii.  Alexander  reigned  from  1490  to 
1503. 

II  Venuti,  Roma  Moderna.  Rione  x-  p.  353.  torn.  ii.  Donatus,  lib.  iv. 
cap  ix.  Dissertazione  sulle  rovine,  &c.  p.  399.  Paul  III  began  to  reign 
il)  1533,  and  died  in  1549. 

**  Da  Barga.  Coraraentarius  de  Obelisco.  ap.  Grsev.  Antiq.  Roman,  in 
loc.  citat  pag.  19r)l.     He  mentioned  this  to  the  honour  of  Sixtus,  to 
whom  he  dedicated  his  commentary,  and  he  believed  it  an  imitation  of 
thi-  conduct  of  Gregory  the  Great  and  others.      "  Quorum  pietatem 
Pius  V.  et  Sixtus  V.    Pontifices  Max.  sic  imitati  sunt,  ut  eorum  alter 


03 

from  the  portico  of  the  Pantheon*  to  make  cannon  for  the 
castle  of  St.  Angelo,  and  to  construct  the  confessional  of  St. 
Peter.  He  took  away  also  some  of  the  base  of  the  sepulchre 
of  Cecilia  Metella  for  the  fountain  of  Trevi.t  Paul  V.  re- 
moved the  entablature  and  pediment  of  a  structure  in  the 
Forum  of  Nerva  for  his  fountain  on  the  Janiculuin,  and  trans- 
ported the  remaining  column  of  the  Temple  of  Peace  to  deco- 
rate the  place  before  St.  Maria  Maggiore.J  Lastly,  Alexander 
VII.  took  down  the  arch  commonly  called  "  di  ?ortogallo"  in 
order  to  widen  the  Corso.§  A  little  more  taste  and  ingenui- 
ty might  surely  have  preserved  the  monument  and  yet  im- 
proved the  modern  street.  The  inferior  clergy  were,  it  is 
probable,  much  more  guilty  than  the  pontiffs,  and  a  volume 
of  no  inconsiderable  bulk  has  been  composed  by  one  of  their 
own  order  to  enumerate  the  pagan  materials  applied  to  the 
use  of  the  church. ||     As  long  as  the  ancient  monuments  were 

fex  ledibus  Vaticanis  bujusmodi  omnes  statuas  alio  amandare  cogitaverat, 
alter  e  turre  capitdlina  incredibili  sua  cum  laude  dejici  jusserit."     See  his 
Treatise  on  the  Destroyers  of  Rome,  &.c.  p.  lo87.  in  loco  citat. 
*  See  note  on  the  Pantheon. 

I  Echiiiard.  Agro.  Romano,  p.  295.  edit.  1750.  Yet  Mr.  Gibbon  says 
he  has  nothing  else  to  allege  against  this  pope  than  the  punning  saying, 
*'  Q,uod  non  fecerunt  barbari  fecerunt  Barbarini."  Cap.  Ixxi.  p.  424.  torn. 
xit. 

J  Venuti  Roma  Moderna.  Rione.  I.  p.  47.  tom.  i. 
^  The  remains  of  this  arch  are  seen  in  Donatus,  fig  32.  He  (lib.  iii.) 
thought  it  of  Drusus,  but  without  reason.  See  Nardini,  (lib.  vi.  cap.  ix.) 
Alexander  VII.  was  so  proud  of  this  destruction  that  he  chose  to  record 
it  by  an  inscription  which  is  here  given,  because  it  is  esteemed  the  best 
specimen  of  lapidary  writing  in  Rome. 

Alex.  VII.  Pontiff.  Max. 
Viam  latara  feriatse  inbis  hippodronnim 
Qua  interjectis  ffidificiis  impeditam 
Qua  procurrentibus  deformatam 
Liheram  rectamque  reddidit 
Publicse  commoditati  et  ornamcnto. 
Anno.  Sal  Mnc.  lxv. 
The  has  reliefs  on  the  arch  are  now  in  the  Capitoline  palace  of  the  Con- 
servatori. 

y  Marangoni,  delle  cose  gentilesche  e  profane  trasporte  ad  vso  e  ornamento 
ddle  rhiese ;  see  also  Fioravante  Marfin«!lli.  Roma,  ex  ethnica  sacra. 


01 

considered  the  property  of  that  church,  it  does  not  appear 
that  any  protection  was  granted  to  them,  and  a  writer,  who  is 
in  some  degree  an  advocate  for  the  clergy,  has  been  obUged 
to  confess  that  when  the  ruins  were  in  possession  of  the  mo- 
dern senate  and  people,  they  were  less  subject  to  spoliation 
than  in  preceding  periods.*  The  superstition  of  the  clei^ 
and  people  at  large  prevented  them  from  attributing  a  pro- 
portionate value  to  objects  not  connected  with  their  eccle- 
siastical legends  ;  and  when  the  relics  of  the  ancient  city  had 
begun  to  be  regarded  with  s  >mewhat  less  indifference,  they 
teem  to  have  been  respectable  from  some  pious  fablet  attach- 
ed to  their  sites  rather  than  by  any  antiquarian  importance. 
Even  the  great  Sixtus  Quintus  could  not  restore  an  obelisk 
without  affixing  an  inscription  devoted  to  the  purposes  of  re- 
ligious imposture.!  The  very  study  of  the  ancient  relics  is 
perverted,  and  rendered  subservient  to  church  fable.  Cardi- 
nal Baronius,  for  the  sake  of  finding  St.  Peter's  prison  at  St. 
Niccolas  in  carcere,  distorted  the  position  of  the  Roman  Fo- 
rum :  and  Nardini  himself,  in  other  respects  so  incredulous, 
affirms  that  there  is  a  certain  tradition  of  the  confinement  of 
•that  apostle  in  the  Mamertine  dungeon,  and  of  the  fountain 
springing  up  for  the  baptizement  of  his  jailer.§  What  were 
the  merits  of  the  latter  pontiffs  in  the  preservation  of  the  an- 
cient fabrics  will  be  seen  in  another  place :  the  above  remarks 

*  The  Abate  Fea  in  his  dissertation. 

•)•  See  the  above  cited  collection  of  desigas,  entitled  Vedute  degli  Anti- 
chi  "Vestigj  di  Roma,  di  Alo  Giovannili,  drawn  in  the  time  of  Paul 
V. :  every  picture  is  enlivened  by  a  massacre  of  martyrs^  or  a  miracle,  or 
a  dedication  of  a  church.  The  Vestal  with  her  sieve,  and  Curtius  leap- 
ing into  the  gulf,  are  the  only  heathen  fictions  or  facts  honoured  with  any 
notice. 

X  Christum.  Dominum 
Quem  Augustus 
De  Virgine 
Nasciturum 
Vivens  adoravit 
Seque  deinceps 
Dominum 
Dici  vetuit 
Adoro. 
(^  Nardini,  lib.  v.  cap.  xi.    See  a  note  on  the  Roman  piety. 


may  have  served  to  show  how  far  their  predecessors  and  thei 
religion  of  which  they  were  the  chiefs  are  to  be  taken  into 
account  in  treating  of  the  ruin  and  neglect  of  these  ven- 
erable monuments. 

Stanza  LXXX. 

THme,  war,  flood,  and  fire 
Have  dealt  upon  the  seven-hilled  city^s  pride. 

The  agency  of  the  Barbarians  and  of  the  catholic  religion 
is  far  from  being  an  adequate  cause  for  so  little  being  left  of 
that  city  which  was  called  the  epitome  of  the  universe.*  It 
is  proposed,  therefore,  to  take  a  cursory  view  of  the  general 
progress  of  decay  arising  from  other  causes  of  destruction. 

A  tremendous  fire  in  the  year  700  or  703  of  the  city  had 
made  it  necessary  to  rebuild  the  greater  part  of  Rome.t 
This  was  undertaken  by  Augustus,  and  the  famous  eulogium 
on  the  grandeur  of  his  restorationj  shows  what  materials  were 
a  prey  to  the  fire  of  Nero,  from  which  only  four  regions  es- 
caped untouched,  and  which  was  fatal  to  the  most  venerable 
fanes  and  trophies  of  the  earlier  ages.§  We  may  conclude 
from  a  passage  of  Tacitus,  that  so  early  as  the  reign  of  Vi- 
tellius  a  work  belonging  to  the  time  of  the  republic  was  a 
rare  object.)|  The  fire  and  civil  war  which  destroyed  the 
Capitol  during  that  reign,  that  which  raged  for  three  days 
and  nights  under  Titus,**  the  conflagration  in  the  thirteenth 

*  'EHtTfofv^  'trfi  o/xsjLttj/jjf  is  an  expression  of  Athenaeus,  quoted  in  one 
of  the  topographers,  Julius  Minutulus. 

t  Orosii,  Hist.  lib.  vi.  cap.  xiv.  and  lib.  vii.  cap.  ii.  Fourteen  vid  were 
consumed. 

X  "  He  found  it  brick,  he  left  it  marble  ;"  or,  as  Dion  says,  T^v  'I'l!^>^^.r^v 
yi^ifjjv  jtopoXajSwr  Xt^iVijv  ifu,v  xataXsCjiu.  Hist.  Rom.  lib.  Ivi.  pag-  829. 
torn.  ii.  edit.  Hamb.  1750.  What  is  said  of  Theraistocles  is  a  much  finer 
eulogium.  "Oj  sTtowjfj*  ^i^v  rto'Kw  intZiV  ii(at':^v  ivpuv  ircvx^t'f^v-  Aristopb. 
Equit.  V.  811.     "  He  made  our  city  full,  having  found  it  empty." 

^  Sueton.  in  vit.  Neronis.  Tacit.  Annal  lib.  xv.  cap.  SB,  39,  40,  41. 

II  "  Lutatii  Catuli  nomen  inter  tanta  C«esarura  opera  nsque  ad  Vitelliuro 
anansit."    Hist.  lib.  iil.  cap.  72. 

**  Sueton.  in  vit,Tifei» 


(66 

year  of  Trajan,  which  consumed  a  part  of  the  Forum  and  of 
the  golden  liouse  of  Nero,*  must  have  contributed  to  the 
obhteration  of  the  ancient  city ;  and  if  there  was  scarcely 
any  relic  of  republican  Rome  when  Tacitus  wrote,  it  may 
be  suspected  that  the  capital  even  of  the  first  Csesars  had 
begun  to  disappear  at  an  earlier  period  than  is  usually  ima- 
gined. The  temples  under  the  Capitol  bear  witness  to  the 
falls  and  fires  which  had  required  the  constant  attention  and 
repair  of  the  senate, t  and  became  more  common  after  the 
transfer  of  the  seat  of  government  to  Constantinople.  Po- 
pular tumults  were  then  more  frequent  and  injurious.  In 
one  which  occurred  in  the  year  312  the  Temple  of  Fortune 
was  burnt  down.J  The  Palace  of  Symmachus,§  that  of  the 
prefect  Lampadius,  in  367,  and,  it  is  probable,  the  Baths  of 
Constantine,  each  suffered  by  the  same  violence ;  and  an  in- 
scription which  records  the  repair  of  the  latter  informs  us 
also  how  small  were  the  means  of  the  senate  and  people  for 
restoring  the  ancient  structures.  ||     The  destruction  must  not 

*  G.  Sincellus  in  Chronog.  p.  347.  quoted  in  Dissertazione,  &c.  p.  £?93. 

t  D.  N  Constantino  .  Maximo  .  Pio  .  Felici .  ac  .  Triumphatori .  sem- 
per .  Augusto  .  ob  .  amplificatam  .  toto  .  orbe  .  rem  .  publicam  .  factis  . 
consiliisque  .  S.  P.  Q.  R.  Dedicante  .  Anicio  .  Paulino  .  Juniore  .  C  V. 
Cos.  ord.  Prsef  urhi-  S.  P.  Q.  R. 

iEdem  .  Concordiae  .  vetustate  .  collapsam  .  in  .  meliorem  .  faciem  . 
opere  .  et  •  cuitu  .  splendidiore  .  restituerunt 

Tliis  inscription  was  found  near  the  ruins  under  the  Capitol,  and  trans- 
ferred to  the  Lateran,  ■whence  it  has  disappeared 

The  words  now  remaining  on  the  frieze  of  the  same  supposed  Temple 
of  Concord  are 

Senatus  Populusque  Romanus 
Incendio  consumptum  Restituit. 
The  other  temple  of  three  columns,  called  now  Jupiter  Tonans,  has  the 
letters  estitver. 

I  Annaii  d'  Italia,  ad.  an.  312.  torn.  ii.  p.  312.  ^Muratori  quotes Zosimus, 
lib.  ii.  c  13.  and  would  make  ns  ptit  this  fire  to  the  charge  of  religion. 

^  Amm.  Marceilinus,  lib.  xxvii.  cap.  iii  p.  523.  edit.  Lugd  Bat  1693. 
"  Hie  prasfectus  [Lampadii]  exagitatus  est  motibus  crcbris,  uno  omnium 
maximo  cum  coliecta  plebs  infima,  domum  ejus  prope  Constantinianum 
lavacrum  injectis  facibus  incendei-at  et  malleolis,"  &-c     Ibid. 

II  Vid-  Nardini,  lib.  iv.  cap  vi  "  Petronius  Perpenna  magnus  Quadra- 
tianus  V  C  et  Inl.  Prsef  Urb.  Constan'ioianas  thermas  loiiga  incurii  et 
abolendse  civilis  vel  potius  fcialis  cladis  vastatione  vehementur  adflictas 


67 

be  confined  to  one  element.  The  Tiber,  which  Augustus* 
cleansed,  which  Trajan  deepened,  and  AureUan  endeavoured 
to  restrain  by  a  mound,t  rose  not  unfrequenlly  to  the  walls, 
and  terrified  the  pious  cruelty  of  the  Romans  into  persecu- 
tion.! The  repeated  notices  of  inundation  will  be  seen  to 
form  part  of  the  melancholy  annals  of  the  declining  capital ; 
but  the  decay  of  the  city  was  hastened  not  only  by  these  na- 
tural evils  and  by  the  violence  of  hostile  conflicts  within  the 
w^alls,§  but  by  the  silent  dilapidation  of  ancient  structures, 
both  private  and  public,  which  appears  to  have  been  a  de- 
linquency as  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century,  and 
to  have  been  prohibited  afterwards  by  successive  imperial 
laws.  The  removal  of  the  emperors  to  Constantinople  en- 
couraged the  spoliation,  and  if  it  were  possible  to  ascertain 
the  list  of  all  the  ornaments  of  Rome  which  were  transferred 
to  the  seat  of  empire,  there  might  be  a  better  justification  for 
those  who  attribute  the  ruin  of  the  old  to  the  rise  of  the  new 
capital. II  The  departure  of  many  of  the  principal  families 
for  the  banks  of  the  Bosporus  had  emptied  a  portion  of  the 
patrician  palaces.  The  public  structures  we  know  were  not 
entirely  spared,  when  it  was  requisite  to  record  the  triumph 
of  Constantine  ;**  and  the  debasement  of  the  arts  having  left 
the  Romans  no  other  resource  than  the  apphcation  of  former 
trophies  to  their  present  sovereign,  the  same  flattery  which 
robbed  an  arch  of  Trajan  may  have  despoiled  many  other 

ita  ut  agnitione  sui  ex  omni  parte  perdita  desperationem  cunctis  repara- 
tionis  adferrent  deputato  ab  amplissirao  ordine  parvo  sumptu  quantum 
publicae  patiebantur  anguf^tiae  ab  extremo  vindicavit  occasu  et  provisione 
iargissima  in  pristinam  faciem  splendoremque  restituit" 

*  Sueton.  in  vit.  Augusti-  cap.  xxx- 

t  " Tyberinas  extruxi  ripas..  Vadum  alvei  tumentis  effodi"  Vopisc. 
in  vit.  Aureliani,  p.  215.  Aid.  edit  1519. 

t  "  Tybevis  si  ascendh  ad  msenia  ;  si  Nilus  non  ascendit  in  arva :  si 
uoelum  stetit,  si  terra  movit,  si  fames,  si  lues,  statim  Christianos  ad  Leones." 
Tertull.  Apclog.  cap.  xlii. 

v^  A  battle  was  fought  on  the  Caelian  hill  in  the  reign  of  Aurelian.  De- 
cline and  Fall,  cap.  xi.  torn.  ii.  oct.  p.  51. 

II  "  Ut  non  immerito  dixeris,  non  a  barbaris,  sed  prius  a  Constantino 
CTersam  fuisse  Romam."  Isa.  Vossii  de  magnitudine  Roma;  Veteris.  aj?. 
GraeV.  Antiq.  Roman,  torn.  iv.  p.  1507.  p.  1516.  cap.  vii. 

**  See  page  72,  note  1. 

9 


monuments  to  decorate  the  chosen  city  of  the  conqueroi'. 
The  laws  of  the  codes*  speak  of  ruins  and  edifices  in  decay, 
Avhich,  we  may  collect  from  prohibiting  clauses,  it  was  the 
Custom  not  to  restore  hut  to  pillage  for  the  service  of  new 
buildings.  Such  was  the  disorder  in  the  reign  of  Valens  and 
Valentinian,  that  private  individuals  had  seized  upon  the 
public  granaries  :  columns  and  marbles  were  transported  from 
one  city  to  another,  and  from  one  service  to  another.  A  law 
above  referred  to  for  the  year  364,  when  quoted  in  the  Jus- 
tinian code,  contains  a  singular  expression  not  before  remark- 
ed, by  which  it  would  appear  that  at  an  early  period  there 
was  an  old  distinct  from  a  new  Rome.t  The  regionaries  do 
not  notice  the  distinction,  and  the  commentators  object  to  the 
phrase  ;  but  it  seems  very  probable  that  the  migration  from 
the  mounts  to  the  Campus  Martius  had  commenced  after  the 
repeated  sack  and  sieges  of  the  city,  and  the  causes  of  decay 
before  commemorated,  had  encumbered  the  ancient  site  with 

"  XI.  Impp-  Valentinianus  et  Valens  A  A  ad  Symmachum  P.  U. 
"  Intra  urbeni  Romam  eternani  nullus  Judicum  novum  opus  informet: 
quotiens  serenitatis  nostrse  arbitria  cessabunt :  ea  tamen  instaurandi  quae 
jam  dcformibus  ruinis  intercidisse  dicuntur  universis  licentiam  damus" 
Dat.  viii.  kalend.  Jun.  Philippis.  Divo  Joviano  et  Varroniano  Coss.  [A.  D. 
J364]  lib.  XV.  tit.  1.  Codex  Theodos-  edit.  Mant.  1768.  p.  261.  The  law  is 
repeated  the  next  year.  The  next  law  mentions  the  seizure  of  the  gra- 
naries. By  several  other  laws  of  the  code  under  the  same  title,  it  appears 
that  the  public  buildings  in  the  provinces  were  also  falling  to  decay.  The 
following  law  speaks  more  strongly  of  the  decay  and  the  spoliation  at 
Rome- 

XIX.  Impp.  Valens,  Gratianus,  et  Valentinianus  A  A  A  ad  senatum. 
Nemo  prsefectorum  urbis  aliorumve  judicum,  quos  potestas  in  excelso 
locat,  opus  aliquod  novum  in  m-be  Roma  inclyta  moliatur,  sed  excolendis 
veteribus  intendet  animum.  Novum  quoque  opus  qui  volet  in  urbe  moliri, 
suc\  pecunia,  suis  opibus  absolvat,  non  contractis  veteribus  emolumentis, 
non  effossis  nobilium  operum  substructionibus,  non  redivivis  de  publico 
saxis,  non  marmorum  frustis  spoliatarum  sedium  reformatione  convulsis. 
Lecta  in  Senatu.  Valente  V.  et  Valentiniano.  A  A.  Coss.  [A.  D.  876.] 
Read  deformatione,  according  to  three  editions,  p.  269.  The  Lawsxxvii. 
and  xxix.  of  the  same  title  are  to  the  same  purpose. 

t  Vid.  Cod.  Justin,  lib.  viii.  tit  xii.  torn-  ii.  pag.  471.  edit  Gotting.  1797. 
which  repeats  the  law  above,  beginning  "  Intra  urbem  Romam  veterem  et 
novam,^^  and  inserts  "nisi  ex  suis  pecuniis  hujusmodi  opus  constnir* 
voluerit." 


69 

ruins.     The  Campus  Martius  had  been  surrounded  by  tht 
wall  of  Aurelian,  and  from  that  time  it  may  be  supposed  tha 
the  vast  fields,  the  groves  of  the  Augustan  mausoleum,  th= 
innumerable  porticos,  the    magnificent  temples,  the   circus 
and  the  theatre  of  that  district,*  were  gradually  displaced 
or  choked  up  by  the  descending  city.     As  late  as  the  reign  o. 
Valentinian  III.  we  find  mention  made  of  the  Campus  Mar- 
tins as  if  it  were  still  an  open  place.!     Yet  it  is  possible  that 
the  quarter  preserved  the  name,  as  at  present,  long  after  it 
had  lost  its  original  appearance  and  destination. 

It  is  not  to  be  overlooked,  that  in  the  reign  of  Constantius, 
the  architectural  wonders  of  the  city  were  still  sufficient  to 
astonish  a  stranger  ;|  that  when  the  regionaries  wrote  under 
Valentinian, §  a  pompous  list  of  public  monuments  might  still 
be  collected  for  the  admiration  and  confusion  of  posterity  ;|| 
that  when  Alaric'  took  the  town,  the  private  houses  contained 
the  buildings  of  a  whole  city  •,**  and  that  even  after  that  cala- 
mity the  old  age  of  Rome  was  more  attractive  than  the 
youth  of  any  other  capital.  There  was,  doubtless,  still 
enough  left  to  confer  the  palm  upon  the  ancient  metropolis,!! 
*whose  ruins  at  this  day  form  a  striking  contrast  Avith  the  few 
relics  of  the  second  capital.     The  stranger  could  not  per- 

*  See  a  beautiful  description  of  it  in  Strabo,  lib.  v. 

f  He  was  killed  in  the  Campus  Martius,  according  to  Cassiodorus  and 
Victor  Tutonensis  ;  but  Prosper,  in  his  Chronicle,  names  another  place 
called  the  two  Laurels.     Annali  d'ltalia,  ad  an  455.  tom-  iii.  p.  163- 

t  "  Deinde  intra  septem  montium  culmina,  per  acclivitates  planitieni- 
que  posita  urbis  membra  collustrans  et  suburbans,  quiquid  viderat  pri- 
mura,  id  eminere  ante  aiiacuncta  sperabat,"  Stc  he.  Amm.  Marcel,  lib. 
xvi.  cap.  X.  p.  145.  Lugd.  Bat.  1693. 

}  He  was  elected  Emperor  in  364,  and  died  in  375. 

II  The  two  regionaries,  Rufus  and  Victor,  occupy  twelve  pages,  in 
double  column,  of  the  folio  Thesaurus  of  Grsevius,  tom.  iii. 

**  'Ott,  Ixaotos  tZiv  (/.lyoXuv  oixiov  tr^i  'Puifitji,  wj  ^<3i,v  artavta  tt-xiv  iv 
iavtqt,  oftoea  rto^ij  avfifistpoi  ^Bvvato  txi»*>'  Olympiod.  ap  Phot.  Biblioth. 
edit.  1653,  p.  198. 

E/5  hofwi  aatv  fti'Kiv,  rtoXtj  a^ea  f^vpia  xcv^et, — 

ft  Manuel  Chrysoloras  made  a  comparison  between  Rome  and  Con- 
stantinople :  he  did  not  believe  what  he  had  heard  of  Rome,  but  found 
that  her  very  ruins  were  a  sufficient  proof  of  her  former  superiority 
This  was  in  1464,  at  least  his  book  has  that  date.     See  .Aluseum  Itall 
yt.  96,  tom.  i.  1724. 


70 

ceive  what  was  lost :  the  native  still  flattered  himself  that 
every  injury  might  be  repaired  ;  and  such  was  the  stability  of 
the  larger  monuments,  that  to  the  poet 'and  consul  Ausonius, 
at  the  end  of  the  fourth  century,  Rome  was  still  the  golden, 
the  eternal  city.*  In  the  panegyrics,  however,  of  her  last 
admirers,  we  may  trace  her  decay.  The  private  palaces, 
which  are  celebrated  by  Olympiodorus,  have  no  encomium 
from  the  poet  who  survived  the  ravage  of  Genserick,  and 
who  still  extols  the  baths  of  Agrippa,  of  Nero,  and  of  Dio. 
cletian.t  The  care  and  admiration  of  Theodoric  were  di- 
rected to  those  objects  whose  solidity  or  whose  position  pro- 
tected them  from  sudden  dissolution,  but  which  were  still 
shaken  by  violence  of  age.J  Cassiodorus  confesses  that  his 
master,  the  lover  of  architecture,§  the  restorer  of  cities, 
could  only  repair  decently  the  tottering  remnants  of  anti- 
quity. ||  He  owns,  also,  the  partial  abandonment,  whilst  he 
laments  the  rapid  decay  and  fall  of  the  ancient  habitations.** 
In  the  interval  between  the  encomiums  of  Cassiodorus  and 
the  notices  which  Procopius  has  left  of  the  miracles  of  Rome,tt 
the  aqueducts  had  been  broken  ;i|  the  thermae,  the  araphi- 

*  Epij;rammata  quatuor,  fee.  Auson.  Op.  pp-  78,  80,  edit.  Burdigal. 
"  Prima  urbes  inter  Divuin  domus,  aurea  Roma." 

Clarae  urbes,  p.  195. 
f  "  Hinc  ad  balnea  non  Neroniana 
"  Nee  quae  Agrippa  dedit,  vel  ille  eujiis 
"  Bustum  Dalmaticse  vident  Salonfe,"  kc. 
Sidon.  Apoll.  Carmen  ad  Conseptium,  23.  written  466.  Dissertazione, 
&e.  p.271. 

t  The  Palatine  had  been  occupied  by  the  troops  of  Genserick,  the 
Theatre  of  Pompey  had  been  injured  by  fire,  and  was  in  decay — quid 
non  solves  O  senectus,  quae  tam  robusta  quassati?  Cassiod.  var.  lib.  iv- 
epist.  51. 

^  "Araator  fabriearum,  restaiirator  civium."  Excerpta  de  Theod. 
auctoris  ignoti  in  fine  Amm.  Marcell- 

II  "  Et  nostris  temporibus  videatur  antiquitas  decentius  innovata."  Var< 
epist.  51.  lib.  iv. 

**  "  Facilis  est  sedificiorum  ruina  incolarum  substracta  custodia  et  cito 
vetustatis  decoctione  resolvitur,  quod  hominum  praesen  tia  non  tuetur." 
ft  De  Bello  Gothico,  lib.  i.  cap.  xix. 

XI  The  population  must  have  been  much  diminished,  since  the  Tiber 
was  esteemed  insalubrious,  and  the  wells  of  Rome  had  been  found  in- 
sufficient for  the  people  of  Rome  since  the  year  441,  A.  U-  C  See  Jul. 
Frontin-  de  acquaeduct.  lib.  i.  ap.  Graev.  Antiq.  Roman,  torn.  iv. 


71 

theatre,  the  theatres,  had  all  been  abandoned,  and  the  ad- 
miration of  the  historian  is  confined  to  the  tomb  of  Hadrian,* 
to  the  infinite  number  of  statues,t  the  works  of  Phidias, 
Lysippus,  and  Miron,  and  to  the  solicitude  with  which  the 
Romans  preserved  as  much  as  possible  the  more  stable  edi- 
fices of  their  city,  and,  amongst  other  objects,  a  venerable 
relic  of  their  Trojan  parent.:}:  Even  these  detached  orna- 
ments must  have  been  much  diminished  during  the  Gothic 
sieges.  The  Greek  soldiers  were  not  restrained  from  fling- 
ing down  the  statues  of  the  mole  of  Hadrian  on  the  heads  of 
their  assailants  ;§  and  Belisarius  must  have  demolished  not 
only  such  smaller  materials,  but  many  a  contiguous  structure, 
for  his  repeated  rebuilding  of  the  walls.  We  have  other 
decided  proofs  of  the  early  desertion  and  decline  of  the 
Caesarean  city.  An  edict  of  Majorian  specifies  as  a  common 
offence,  that  those  who  built  houses  had  recourse  to  the  an- 
cient habitations,  which  could  not  have  been  dilapidated  in 
the  presence  of  a  resident  population,  and  which  we  know 
by  the  same  edict  to  have  been  abandoned  to  the  feeble  pro- 
tection of  the  laws. II  The  same  fact  is  deducible  from  an- 
other prohibition,  which  forbade  the  extraction  of  precious 
metals  from  the  ancient  structures,  a  crime  noticed  before 

*  De  Bello  Gothico,  lib.  i.  cap.  xxii- 

f  De  Bello  Gothico,  lib.  iv.  cap.  xxiii. 

J  "  '■  0«.  yt  xai  TloTjvv  twa  iSc/SapapujUcrcu  aiwva,  tditt  jfoXtu;  iuauaavfo 
oixoSofuai,  scat  Tu>v  iyxaXJuUTiiaiMi/tuv  to,  TiXttata  oaa  ovov  ti  mT  XP'*^^  ** 
•toaovttft  tofiTJxoi,  xai  tci  afttifitXiia^ai,  SI  Ofstriv  fwv  rtirtoi^fievuv  dvtexii'' 
t'tifuv  •toi  jtai  oaa  fMnjfuui,  tov  yivovf  iXsXtift'to  stt  '  iv  fotj  xcu  ij  vaivi  avviiov, 
iov  -giji  }to\tos  olxtstov,  xai  «tj  -toBc  xHtai,  ^/a^a  rtavrf^wj  dftistov. 
rotOixi^ijS'.  pag.  353.  edit.  1607.  cap.  xxii.  of  the  translation.  The 
due  weight  must  be  given  to  these  words :  but  the  solidity  of  the  structure 
seems,  after  all,  the  chief  pretection  of  the  buildings. 

§De  Bello  Gothico,  lib.  i-  cap.  xxii.  The  Faun  was  found  when 
Urban  VIII  cleansed  the  ditch  of  the  castle. 

II  Majorian  reigned  from  457  to  461.  "  Antiquarum  asdium  dissipatur 
speciosa  constructio ;  et  ut  aliquid  reparatur,  magna  diruuntur.  Hinc 
Jam  occasio  nascitur  ut  etiara  unusquisque  privatum  aedificium  con- 

«truens,  per  gratiam  judicum prsesumere  de  publicis  locis  neces- 

saria,  et  transferre  non  dubitet."  This  is  quoted  in  the  Decline  and  Fall, 
&tc.  cap.  xxxvi.  p.  175.  vol.  ti.  oct.  note-8. 


72 

the  end  of  the  fourth  century,*  and  one  of  the  evils  whicit 
the  regulations  of  Theodoric  were  intended  to  prevent.1 
This  rapine  supposes  a  solitude.  In  the  subsequent  periods 
of  distress,  when  every  precious  object  had  been  removed 
from  above  ground,  the  plunderers  searched  for  subterranean 
treasures,  and  tore  up  the  lead  of  the  conduits.J  The  mere 
necessities  of  existence  became  the  only  care  of  a  wretched 
population,  fi'om  whom  it  would  be  unreasonable  to  expect 
either  taste  or»  attachment  to  the  trophies  of  their  former 
grandeur.  That  many  of  the  works  of  sculpture  fell  where 
they  stood,  has  been  proved  by  the  spots  where  they  were 
found,  after  centuries  of  neglect.  The  same  indifference 
"which  allowed  the  baths  of  Titus  to  be  gradually  buried 
beneath  the  soil,  prevented  the  Laocoon  from  being  removed 
from  the  niche  which  it  originally  adorned.  §  The  Toro,  the 
Hercules,  the  Flora,  the  Callipygian  Venus,  were  all  found 
in  the  baths  of  Caracalla,  of  which  most  probably  they  had 
been  the  ornaments. 

The  condition  of  the  Romans  may  account  for  their  ne- 
glect of  monuments,  which  the  elements  themselves  conspire 
to  destroy.  An  earthquake  shook  the  Forum  of  Peace  for  seven 
days,  in  the  year  408  ;||  but  such  were  the  convulsions  of  nature 
in  the  succeeding  century,  that  Gregory  the  Great**  naturally 


*  In  567  Lampadius,  the  praefect,  took  all  the  lead,  and  iron,  and  brass, 
so  collected,  without  any  remuneration  to  the  plunderers.  Ainm-  Mar- 
cellini,  lib.  xxvii.  cap-  iii.  pag.  524.  edit.  1693. 

•j-  Praeterea  non  minimum  pondus,  et  quod  facillimum  direptioni  est 
mollissimum  plumbum  de  ornatu  msenium  referuntur  esse  sublata. 
Varlar.  epist.  lib.  iii.  cap.  xxxi-  pag.  50.  edit.  1679. 

I  "  Et  confestim  centenarium  illud,  quod  ex  eadem  forma  in  atrio  ec- 
clesiae  Beati  Petri  decurrebat,  dum  per  nimiam  neglectus  incuriam  plum- 
bum ipsius  ccntenarii  furtim  jam  plurima  ex  parte  exinde  ablatum  fuisset" 
Anastas.  in  vit.  S.  Hadriani  L  He  is  talking  of  the  repair  of  the  aqueduct 
and  pipe  of  the  Acqua  Sabbatina. 

{  Pliny  (Nat.  Hist.  lib.  xxxvi.)  s:ij'S,  the  Laocoon  was  in  the  house   of 

the  Emperor  Titus.  " Laocoonte  qui  est  in  Titi  Imperatorisdomo." 

They  show  the  red  cellular  niche  in  the  baths  or  palace  of  Titus,  in 
which  this  groupe  is  said  to  have  been  found. 

II  Romae  in  foro  pacis  per  dies  septem  terra  mugitum  dedit.  Merecellini 
Comitis,  Chronic,  ap.  Sirmond.  tom.  ii.  p.  274. 

'"^■^  St.  Gregory,  in  his  Dialogues,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xv.  reports  and  confirms  a 


73 

supposed  the  evils  of  which  he  had  himself  been  witness  t© 
be  the  principal  cause  of  the  ruin  around  him.  To  these 
'earthquakes,  tempests,  and  inundations,  he  attributed  not 
only  the  depopulation  of  the  city,  but  the  fall  of  her  dwell- 
ings, the  crumbling  of  her  bones.*  The  rise  of  the  Tiber  is 
specified  as  having  overthrown  many  of  the  ancient  editicest 
Pestilence  and  famine  within  the  walls,  and  the  Lombards 
without,  had  reduced  her  to  a  wilderness,  and  it  is  to  be 
believed  that  the  population  shrunk  at  that  period  from 
many  spots  never  afterwards  inhabited.  An  important  no- 
tice, hitherto  never  cited  for  the  same  purpose,  informs  us, 
that  at  the  second  siege  of  Rome  by  Totila,  there  was  so 
much  cultivated  land  within  the  walls,  that  Diogenes,  the  go- 
vernor, thought  the  corn  he  had  sown  would  be  sufficient  to 
supply  the  garrison  and  citizens  in  a  protracted  defence.  J 
The  district  of  the  Forum,  however,  had  not  yet  become  a 
solitude.  A  column,  erected  to  the  emperor  Phocas,  is  an 
evidence  that  the  ancient  ground  plan  had  not  been  buried 
in  the  year  608.  And  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  Forum  of 
Trajan,  upon  evidence  not  quite  so  precise. §     The  accretion 

prophecy  of  St.  Benedict.  "  Cui  vir  dei  respondit :  Roma  gentilus  non 
exterminabitur,  sedtevipesttaihus  coruscis,turh{nibus,ac  ttrrCR  inotu  faiigata 
marescet  in  semet  ipsa.  Cujus  prophetise  mysteria  nobis  jam  facta  sunt 
luce  clariora,  qui  in  hac  uibe  dissoluta  msenia,  eversas  domos,  destructas 
ecclesias  tuibine  cernimus ;  ejusque  a;dificia  longo  senio  lassata  quia 
ruinis  crebrescentibus  prosternantur  videmus."  The  reader  may  recol- 
lect how  Mr.  Gibbon  has  disposed  of  the  prophecy. 

*  "  Quid  autem  ista  de  hominibus  dicitnus  cum  ruinis  crebrescentibus 

ipsa  quoque  dcstrui  sedificia  videmus quia  postquam  defecerant 

homines,  etiam  parietes  cadunt ossa  ergo  excocta  sunt,  vacua  ardet 

Roma  .  .  . ."  18  Homil.  in  Ezechiel.  lib.  ii.  hom.  vi.  pag.  70.  torn.  v.  opp. 
omn.  Venet.  1776.    This  was  in  592. 

f  "  Tanta  inundatione  Tyberis  fluvlus  alveum  suum  egressus  est  tan- 
tumque  excrevit,  ut  ejus  unda  per  muros  urbis  influere  atque  iu  ea  maxi- 
inam  partim  regionis  occupavit  ita  ut  plurima  antiquarura  sedium  msenia 
dejiceret."  St.  Gregor.  Vita,  per  Paul.  Diacon.  torn.  xv.  p.  253.  opp.,  S. 
Greg.  See  also  Paul  Diacon-  de  gestis  Langob.  lib-  iii-  cap-  xxiii.  for  the 
pistis  inguinaria- 

I  Procop.  de  Bello  Gothico,  lib.  iii.  cap.  xxxvi.  Nardini,  lib.  i.  cap. 
viii.  has  made  the  remark,  but  with  another  object  in  treating  of  the 
walls. 

\  The  biographers  of  St.  Gregory  mention  the  Forum.    "  Idem  ver© 


74 

cil'  soil  in  the  vklleys,  and  even  the  mounts  of  Rome, 
could  not  liave  taken  place  under  the  foot  of  a  population 
which  was  never  entirely  lost,  and  it  is  only  from  the  total 
desertion  of  these  buried  sites  that  we  must  date  the  forma- 
tion of  the  present  level.*  It  appears  that  in  825  there  were 
within  Rome  itself  cultivated  lands  of  considerable  extent.t 
The  contiguity  of  the  immense  ancient  fabrics,  when  once  in 
decay,  must  have  been  dangerous  during  earthquakes,  which 
might  shake  them  down,  or  in  inundations,  when  the  water 
might  be  confined,  and  prevented  from  retiring  by  the  walls 
of  buildings  as  large  as  provinces. X  Such  open  spots  as  were 
decorated  by  single  monuments  were  hkely  to  be  first  over- 
whelmed by  the  deposite  left  by  the  water,  and  collected  round 
those  monuments.  On  this  account  the  Forums,  and  even 
the  Palatine,  although  an  eminence,  being  crowded  with 
structures,  appear  to  have  been  buried  deeper  than  the  other 
quartei's,  under  the  deposite  of  the  river,  and  the  materials  of 

perfectissimus  et  acceptabilis  Deo  sacerdos,  cum  quadam  die  per  forum 
Trajani,  quod  opere  magnifico  constat  esse  extractum  procederat." 
Paul.  Diacon.  in  loc  cit-  pag.  262.  "  Quod  Gregorius  per  forum  Tra- 
jani, quod  ipse  quondam  pulcherrimis  tedificiis  venustabat,''  fete.  Joan. 
Diacon.  in  loc  cit.  p.  S05.  Paul  Wanefrid  was  a  Lombard  of  Forli,  and 
taken  prisoner  by  Charlemagne  ;  the  other  deacon  wrote  in  872.  Vid. 
(\(i  triplici  S-  Gregorii  magni  vita  in  loc.  cit.  pag-  246. 

*  Mr.  Gibbon,  cap.  Ixxi.  p.  405-  tom.  xii.  singularly  gives  Addison  the 
nu-'vit  of  a  discovery,  which  any  one  who  had  seen  a  picture  of  the  half- 
buried  ruins  under  the  Capitol,  and  the  hole  in  which  the  column  of  Tra- 
jan was  sunk,  might,  and  must,  have  anticipated. 

f  The  monastery  of  Farfa  in  825  obtained  from  the  Emperor  Lo- 
tliaire  I.  the  confirmation  of  a  grant  to  Pope  Eugenius  of  two  farms. 
"  De  duabus  massis  juris  monasterii  Sanctae  Bibianse,  quod  est  positum 
infra  nobilissimam  urbem  Romanam,  vel  quae  ad  easdem  massas  perti- 
uere  dignoscitur,  quarum  una  Porapejana,  et  alia  Balagai  nuncupata" 
Chronicon  Farfense,  ap.  Script.  Rer.  Italic,  tom.  ii.  par.  ii-  pag.  383.  edit. 
17ii7.  We  know  S.  Bibiana  to  have  been  in  Rome.  Muratori  says, 
"  Dalla  Chronica  Farfensa  apprendiamo,  avere  Papa  Eugenio  donate  al 
inonastero  di  Farfa  due  masse,  appellate  Tuna  Pompeiana,  e  I'altra  Bala- 
gai, poste  infra  nobilissimam  Urbem  Romanam :  il  che  ci  fa  conoscere, 
die  entro  Roma  stessa  si  trovavano  de'  Buoni  Poderi  coltivabili."  Annali 
d'ltalia  ad  an  825.  torn.  iv.  p.  533.  Perhaps  his  translation  and  conclusion 
are  rather  licentious- 

I  "  Lavacra  in  modum  provinciarum  structa"  astonished  Constantius. 
4rnm.  Marccll.  lib.  xvi.  cap.  x. 


^5 

the  crumbling  edifices.  The  latter  accumulation  must  be 
taken  into  the  account,  when  it  is  recollected,  that  the  bro- 
ken pottery  of  the  old  city  has,  at  some  unknown  period,* 
been  sufficient  to  form  a  mount  of  150  paces  high,  and  500 
paces  in  length.  The  population  was  too  languid  to  dig  away 
•the  obstructions,  and  employed  their  remaining  strength  in 
transporting  the  smaller  materials  to  the  more  modern  and 
secure  quarter  of  the  town. 

It  is  impossible  to  assign  a  precise  date  to  the  total  deser- 
tion of  the  greater  portion  of  the  ancient  site  ;  but  the  ca- 
lamities of  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries  must  have  con- 
tributed to,  if  they  did  not  complete  the  change.  A  scarcity! 
in  the  year  604,  a  violent  earthquakej  a  few  years  after- 
wards, a  pestilence§  in  or  about  the  year  678,  five  tremen- 
dous inundations  of  the  Tiber||  from  680  to  797,  a  second  fa- 

*  De  eo  perpetuum  apud  antiques  silentium.  Donati  Rom^Vet.lib.  iii. 
cap.xiii.  The  most  reasonable  account  of  the  Testacean  mount  seems 
to  be  that  of  Lucius  Faunus,  lib.  iii.  cap.  iii.  de  antiquit  Urbis  Romse,  ap. 
Sallengre,  torn.  i.  p.  248.  There  was  a  college  of  potters  established  by 
Numa.  The  vicinity  of  the  water  made  them  fix  themselves  in  the 
meadow  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber.  Is  was  strictly  forbidden  to  fling 
any  obstructions  into  the  river.  The  mound  rose  by  degrees,  and  there- 
fore unnoticed.  It  is  strange,  however,  that  the  regionaries  should  not 
mention  it. 

t  "  Eoque  tempore  fuit  fames  in  civitate  Romana  grandis."  Anastas. 
invit.  Sabiniani.  pag.  134. 

X  "  Eodem  temporfe  factus  est  terrae  motus  magnus  mense  August!  in- 
dictione  undecima."  Ibid,  in  vit.  S.  Deusdedit.  He  was  pope  from  614 
to  617. 

5j  "  Similiter  mortalitas  major,  atque  gravissima  subsecuta  est  mense 
suprascripto,  Julio,  Augusto,  et  Septemb.  inurbe  Roma,  qualis  nectem- 
poribus  aliorum  Pontificum  esse  memoratur."  Ibid,  in  vit.  S.  Agathon, 
pag.  142.  Paul.  Diaconus  says,  "  Tantaque  fuit  multitudo  morientium  ut 
etiam  parentes  cum  filiis,  atque  fratres  cum  sororibus  apud  urbem  Ro- 
mam  ad  sepulchra  deducerentur."    De  gestis  Langob.  lib.  vi.  cap.  v. 

(|In685— 710— 717— 791— 797.  Of  that  in  717,  it  is  mentioned,  "Per 
dies  autem  septemaqua  Romam  tenebat  perversara."  Anastas.  in  vit.  S. 
Gregor.  ii.  p.  155.  Paul.  Diaconus  tells,  "  His  diebus  Tyberis  fluvius  ita 
inundavit,  ut  alveum  suum  egressus  multa  Romanse  fecerit  exltia  civitati  j 
ita  ut  in  via  L<ita  ad  unam  et  semis  staturam  excresceret,  atque  a  porta  S. 
Petri  usque  ad  Pontem  Milvium  acquse  se  distendentes  conjungerent." 
De  gestis  Langob.  lib.  vi.  cap.  xxxvi.    From  the  mention  made  of  the 

10 


76 

mine  in  the  pontificate  of  Pope  Constantine,*  which  eon* 
tinued  for  six  and  thirty  months,  a  pestilence  in  the  last  year 
of  the  seventh  century,  and  the  assault  of  the  Lombards  for 
three  months  under  Astolphus  in  1755;  these  are  the  events 
which  compose  the  Roman  history  of  this  unhappy  period. 

The  fabrics  of  the  old  town  could  receive  no  protection  but 
from  their  solidity.  The  lawful  sovereigns  had  degraded  the 
capital  of  the  world  to  the  head  of  a  dutchy,  and  the  only 
visit  which  an  emperor  of  the  east  deigned  to  make  to  Rome 
was  not  to  protect  but  to  despoil  her  of  all  her  valuable  orna- 
ments.! The  recorded  plunder  of  Constans  has  affixed  to 
that  recreant  name  a  greater  share  in  the  ruin  of  Rome  than 
the  concurrence  of  other  calamities  will  allow  ;    his  robbery 

Corsoheini;  damaged,  the  descent  of  the  city  into  the  Campus  Martius 
seems  to  be  proved.  At  the  same  time  ^the  English  inundated  Rome. 
Ibid.  cap.  xxxvii. 

The  inundation  of  791  tore  down  the  Flaminian  gate,  and  carried  it 
as  far  as  the  arch  called  Tres  faciceliaj  (the  Arcus  Portogalli)  and  rose  to 
the  height  of  two  men.  "  Per  triduum  ipsum  flumen,  quasi  per  alveum, 
per  civitatem  currebat."  Anastas.  in  vit.  S.  Hadriani,  p.  194.  The  ri- 
ver kept  the  city  under  water  for  many  days,  and  S.  Hadrian  was  obl^ed 
to  send  provisions  in  boats  to  those  living  in  the  via  Lata,  "  per  naviculas 
morantibus  via  Lata  cibos  advexit.'' 

The  inundation  in  797  is  not  in  Anastasius,  where  Fea  (Dissertazione, 
p.  309)  finds  it,  but  is  in  the  "  Index  Vetustissimus  Ducum  Spoletonato- 
rum  et  Abbatum  Farfensium."  Ap.  Script.  Rer.  Ital.  torn.  ii.  par.  ii.  p. 
295.  "  Dccxcvii.  Inundatio  aquae  fit  Romse  in  via  Lata  ad  duas  staturas." 
It  may  be  suspected  that  as  both  rose  to  the  height  of  two  men,  there  is 
some  confusion,  and  that  they  were  the  same. 

*  Constantine  was  elected  in  708.  "  Vir  valde  mitissimus,  cujus  tem- 
poribus  in  urbe  Roma  fames  facta  est  magna  per  annos  tres."  Anastas.  in 
vit.  Constant,  p.  152.  There  seems  a  full  stop  wanting  after  mitissimus : 
his  misfortunes  follow  his  virtues  too  quickly. 

t  "  Omnia  quse  erant  in  sere  ad  ornamentum  civitatis  deposiiit,  sed  et 
ecclesiam  beatse  Marise  ad  matyres,  quse  de  tegulis  gereis  erat  cooperta, 
discoperuit."    Anastas.  in  vit.  St.  Vitaliani.  torn.  i.  p.  106. 

"  Sed  manens  Romse  dies  duodecim  omnia  quse  fuerint  antiquitus  insti, 
tuta  ex  sere  in  ornamentum  urbis  abstulit :  in  tantum  ut  etiam  basilicam 

Beatse  Marise  quse  antea  Pantheon  vocata  fuerat  (vocabatur) dia* 

cooperiret .  . . ."  Paul.  Diaconi  de  gestis  Langobard.  lib.  v.  cap.  xi. 
Fabricius  says  that  Constans  took  away  more  in  seven  days  than  all  the 
Barbarians  had  done  in  258  years.    Descriptio  Roraae,  cap.  ii. 


77 

was  confined  to  the  bronze  tiles  of  the  Pantheon,  and  to  what-> 
soever  quantity  of  the  precious  metals  could  be  collected  in  a 
residence  of  twelve  days.  He  had  the  gleanings  of  Gen- 
serick,  but  he  still  left  the  bronze  of  the  portico  to  be  plun- 
dered by  Urban  VIII.  and  many  other  metallic  decorations, 
to  be  melted  into  bells  for  the  churches  in  the  subsequent  rise 
of  the  modern  town,  and  for  other  pious  uses  of  the  Popes.* 
The  period  of  the  exarchate  and  of  the  Lombard  domina- 
tion is  that  of  the  lowest  distress  of  Rome.t  The  most  dili- 
gent inquiry  has  been  unable  to  discover  who  were  her  ac- 
knowledged masters,  or  what  was  the  form  of  her  domestic 
government.  J  Subsequently  to  the  extinction  of  the  exarchate 
by  Astolphus  in  752,  she  had  been  abandoned,  but  was  never 
formally  resigned  by  the  Greek  Caesars.  After  Gregory  II.  in 
728  or  9,  and  Gregory  III.  in  741,  had  solicited  the  aid  of 
Charles  Martel  against  the  Lombards,§  and  against  the  ico- 

*  The  Abate  Fea  (Dissertazionc,  |>.  407,  et  seq.)  allows  that  whatever 
was  saved  was  saved  hy  miracle,  and  probably  because  buried  under  some 
heavy  ruin,  as  the  gilded  Hercules,  the  Wolf,  the  Belvedere  Pine.  The 
bronze  doors  of  Cosmas  and  Damiatius  were  saved  because  they  be- 
longed to  a  church  ;  those  of  St.  Hadrian  were  carried  away  to  the  Late- 
ran.  There  was  a  statue  of  bronze,  a  bull,  in  the  Forum  Boarium  in  the 
time  of  Blondus-  "  . .  • .  A  foro  Boario  ubi  sereum  taurum  aspicimus." 
Roma  inst.  lib.  i-  fo.  10. 

t  "  Ipsa  urbium  regina  Roma,  quamdiu  Langobardorum  Regnum  vi- 
guit,  summis  calamitatibus  exagitata,  atque  in  pejus  ruens  ex  antique 
splendore  decidebat."    Antiq.  Med.  ^vi,  torn- ii- p.  148  dissertatioSl. 

X  Annali  d'ltalia,  torn.  iv.  pag.  S04. 

^  Annali  d'ltalia,  torn.  iv.  pag.  281,  280. 

Mr.  Gibbon  has  observed  that  "  the  Greek  writers  are  apt  to  confound 
the  times  and  actions  of  Gregory  the  2d  and  3d,"  (cap.  xlix.  p.  132,  note 
20.  vol.  ix.  octavo.)  and  by  some  accident  the  following  extraordinary  er- 
ror has  been  left  in  his  text.  "  In  his  distress  the  first  Gregory  had  im- 
l)lored  the  aid  of  the  hero  of  the  age,  of  Charles  Martel."  (cap.  xlix. 
pag.  147.  vol.  ix.  octavo.)  The  first  Gregory  had  been  dead  more  than  a 
century.  The  historian  could  hardly  mean  the  first  of  the  2d  and  3d, 
which  would  be  too  equivocal  an  expression :  besides  which  there  was 
but  a  letter  written,  and  there  are  some  doubts  as  to  the  embassy  of 
Gregory  II.  to  Charles  Martel ;  and  the  decided,  perhaps  repeated  suppli- 
cation to  him  was  from  Gregory  III.  (See  Muratori,  torn.  iv.  pag.  286, 
ad  an.  741)  Nor  does  the  mistake  look  like  an  error  of  the  press,  to  be 
read,  "  Gregory  had  first  implored,"  &c..sjnce  the  application  to  Pepii\ 
\vas  made  by  Stepheo  II. 


78 

noclast  tyrants  of  Constantinople,  it  might  be  thought  that  the 
supremacy  of  the  Greek  empire  hcid  ceased  to  be  recognised. 
Yet  a  certain  respect,  at  least,  for  the  successors  of  Constan- 
tine,  not  only  from  the  Romans  but  from  their  new  patricians, 
Pepin  and  Charles  of  France,  may  be  shown  to  have  endured 
within  two  years  of  the  coronation  of  the  latter  hero*  in  the 
year  800.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  about  this  period  the 
Romans  had  recurred  to  the  memory  of  their  former  institu- 
tions, and  had  composed  a  corporation  of  uncertain  form  and 
number,  advised  rather  than  commanded  by  the  Pope,  who 
had  silently  usurped  the  sovereign  title  of  our  Lord.  By 
this  senate  or  this  spiritual  master  had  the  Byzantine  title  of 
Consul  or  Patrician  been  offered  to  Charles  Martel  and  con- 
ferred on  Pepin.  A  letter  is  still  preserved  from  the  Senate 
and  People  to  Pepin,  Patrician  of  the  Romans,!  and  the  reply 
of  the  Frank  monarch,  recommending  a  deference  to  their 
bishop  Paul  I.  must  imply  that  the  domestic  sovereignty  was 
divided  between  the  pastor  and  the  community  at  large. 
This  mixed  government,  which  must  have  sometimes  assum- 
ed the  appearance  of  anarchy,  and  at  others  degenerated  into 
despotism,  was  contemplated  with  horror  by  those  who  re- 
called the  lawful  imperial  sway  of  the  Caesars,]:  and  either  to 
the  people  or  the  popes  was  applied  the  opprobrious  regret 
that  Rome  was  subject  to  the  slaves  of  slaves,  and  to  a  barba- 
rous populace  drawn  together  from  all  the  corners  of  the 
earth.  The  twelfth  line  of  the  following  verses  is  the  same 
read  backwards  as  forwards,  and  is  quoted  from  Sidonius  Apol- 

*  "  Viene  a  fortificarsi  la  conghiettura  proposta  di  sopra,  cioe  che  dura- 
va  tuttavia  in  Roma  il  rispetto  all'  Imperador  Greco,  ed  era  quivi  ricono- 
sciuta  la  sua  autorita."  Annali  d'ltalia,  ad  an.  708.  torn.  iv.  pag.  492. 
Gregory  III.  is  usually  called  the  first  of  the  independent  popes,  but  he 
certainly  acknowledged  the  superiority  of  Eutichius  exarch  of  Ravenna, 
to  whom,  as  Anastasius  tells  us,  he  applied  for  permission  to  use  six  co- 
lumns of  some  structure  for  St.  Peter's  church. 

t  The  S6th  letter  of  the  Codex  Carolinus,  "scritta  da  tutto  il  senato  e 
dalla  generalita  del  Popolo  Romano  al  re  Pippino  Patrizio  de'  Romani.'' 
See — Annali  d'ltalia  ad  an.  763.  torn-  iv.  p.  381, 

X  Saint  Gregory  himself  made  the  distinction  between  the  republican 
subjects  of  an  Emperor  and  the  slaves  of  a  King.  "  Hoc  namque  inter- 
reges  gentium  et  republicae  Imperatores  distat,  quod  reges  gentium,  do- 
mini  servorum  sunt,  Imperatores  vero  Reipublicse  doraini  liberorum." 
Lib.  xiii.  epist.  31. 


79 

linaris  to  denote  the  retrograde  fortune  of  Rome ;  "  e  do- 
ue^e,"  says  Muratori,  "  M/ia  volta  parere  qualche  meravigliosa 

Nobilibus  fueras  quondam  constructa  patronis 

Subdita  nunc  servis.     Heu  male  Roma  ruis 
Deseruere  tui  tanto  te  tempore  reges : 

Cessit  et  ad  Graecos  nomen  honosque  tuum 
In  te  nobilium  rectorum  nemo  remansit 

Ingenuique  tui  rura  Pelasga  colunt. 
Vulgus  ab  extremis  distractum  partibus  orbis 

Servorura  servi  nunc  tibi  sunt  domini, 
Constantinopolis  florens  nova  Roma  vocatur 

Moenibus  et  muris  Roma  vetusta  cadis. 
Hoc  cantans  prisco  prsedixit  carmine  vates 

Roma  tibi  subito  motibus  ibit  amor. 
Non  si  te  Petri  meritum  Paulique  foveret 

Tempore  jam  longo  Roma  misella  fores 
Mancirihussubjecta  jaccns  macularis  iniquis 

Inclyta  quae  fueras  nobilitate  nitens.* 

A  boasted  descendant  of  Camillus  was  still  left  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  fifth  century  ;t  but  the  unknown  author  of  the 
above  ^.omplaint  would  lead  us  to  believe  that  the  last  relics 
of  the  lloman  race  had  in  his  time  disappeared. 

When  the  history  of  the  pontiffs  becomes  all  the  history  of 
Rome,  we  find  each  moment  of  peace  and  prosperity  employ- 
ed in  rebuilding  the  walls,  in  burning  lime,  in  constructing 
churches  and  shrines  of  martyrs,  the  materials  of  which  must, 
it  is  evident,  have  been  supplied  from  the  deserted  ruins. 

*  See— Antiq.  Med.  ^vi.  edit.  1739.  tom.  ii.  p.  148,  149.  dissertat.  21. 
Muratori  warns  us  not  to  think  that  the  servorum  servi  alludes  to  the 
popes.  The  title  may  not  yet  have  been  used,  but  to  whom  do  the 
words  allude  ?  The  phrase  is  singular,  and  has  been  applied  to  only  one 
character  of  antiquity,  to  Sextus  Pompey ;  "  Libertorum  suorum  Hber- 
tus,  servorumque  servus"  Veil.  Patercul. Hist.  lib.  ii.  cap.  73.  The  slave 
of  slaves  had  become  the  king  of  kings,  when  a  dedicator  to  Sixtns 
Quintus  told  him 

"  Ingentcs  si  facta  decent  ingentia  reges 
Te  regum  regem  Sixte  quis  esse  neget." 
Da  Barga,  Comm.  de  obelisco,  ap.  Grsev.  tom.  iv.  p.  1931. 
f  St.  Jerome  had  a  female  correspondent  who  was  a  descendant  of  Ca- 
millus ;  and  St.  Gregory  was  of  the  patrician  family  of  the  Gordians. 
See — Bayle's  Dictionary,  article  Camillus. 


80 

The  repair  of  former  damages,  and  the  increasing  population 
after  the  establishment  of  the  Carlovingian  princes,  augment- 
ed the  application  to  the  same  common  quarry.  The  recon- 
struction of  an  aqueduct  to  convey  the  acqua  Vergine  to  the 
Vatican  by  Hadrian  I.  at  the  end  of  the  eighth  century,  seemg 
to  prove  that  the  Campus  Martius,  and  the  quarter  about  St. 
Peter's,  were  then  chiefly  inhabited.*  The  altar  of  the  apos- 
tles had  gathered  round  it  a  crowd  of  votaries  who  became 
?!ettlers,  and  for  whose  protection  Leo  IV.t  surrounded  with 
a  wall  the  suburb  of  the  Vatican.  Respect  for  the  mother  of 
the  churches,  and  the  supposed  scene  of  the  baptism  of  Con- 
stantine,  had  preserved  the  inhabitants  in  the  other  extremity 
near  the  Lateran,J  and  the  greater  was  the  population  at 
these  opposite  points,  the  more  complete  must  have  been  the 
desertion  of  many  immediate  quarters  within  the  vast  circuit 
of  the  walls.  It  has  been  already  observed  that  some  of 
these  spots  had  become  cultivated  lands  in  the  beginning  of 
Che  ninth  century. 

The  edifices  of  old  Rome  are  lost  for  more  than  200  years, 
but  reappear  in  a  regionary  of  the  eighth  or  ninth  century, 
who  might  make  us  suspect  that  the  abandonment  had  not  yet 
reached  the  Forum.  His  notice  includes  the  following  monu' 
ments,  which  he  divides  amongst  the  regions  after  tlie  exam- 
ple of  former  itineraries. §  The  Thermae  of  Alexander,  of 
Commodus,  of  Trajan,  of  Sallust,  with  his pt/r amid,  of  Diocle- 
tian, of  Constantine,  and  some  baths  near  St.  Silvestro  in  ca- 
pite,  a  temple  of  Minerva,  the  temple  of  Jupiter,||  the  Roman 
Forum,  the  Forum  of  Trajan,  the  three  Circuses,  Maximus, 

*  Anastas.  in  vit.  Had.  p.  189. 

j  He  was  Pope  from  847  to  855. 

\  Another  aqueduct,  the  Claudian,  was  repaired  for  the  service  of  the 
Lateran.  The  Marcian  water  was  also  again  brought  to  Rome  by  Hadrian 
I.  It  seems  that  these  streams  and  the  acqua  Trajanahad  been  before  par- 
tially recovered,  it  is  uncertain  by  whom,  and  had  again  fallen  into  decay. 

^  See — Bianchini's  edition  of  the  lives  of  the  popes.  Opusculum  XV. 
prolegomena  ad  vitas  Roman.  Pontificum,  torn.  ii.  pag-  cxxii.  Bianchini 
calls  him  a  regionary  of  the  eighth  or  ninth  century.  The  date  875  has 
been  assigned  to  him-     See — Dissertazione  suUe  rovine,  fee.  p.  326. 

II  Bianchini  calls  this  the  temple  of  the  Capitoline  Jupiter,  without  giv- 
ing any  reason. 


81 

Flaminius  and  Agonalis,  the  arch  of  Drusus  called  recordailo- 
nis,  the  Arch  of  Severus,  that  of  Titus  and  Vespasian,  and  of 
Gratian,  Theodosius,  and  Valentinian,  the  Flavian  Amphithe- 
atre, that  called  Castrense,  the  Capitol,  the  Septizonium  of  Se- 
verus, a  Palace  of  Nero,  another  attributed  to  Pontius  Pilate, 
and  a  third  near  Santa  Croce  in  Gerusalemme,  the  Theatres  of 
Pompey  and  of  Marcellus,  the  Pantheon,  the  Mica  Aurea,  the 
Antonine  and  Trajan  Columns,  a  NymphtEum,  an  Obelisk  near 
S.  Lorenzo  in  Lucina,  the  Horses  of  the  Baths  of  Constantine, 
the  Horse  of  Constantine,  the  Elephant  called  Herbarium,  a 
statue  of  the  Tiber,  several  aqueducts,  and  nameless  porticos. 
It  is  worth  while  to  observe  how  many  of  these  monuments 
have  been  partially  preserved  up  to  this  day,  so  that  one  might 
suspect  that  those  of  a  slighter  construction  had  already  yield- 
ed to  violence  and  time,  and  those  only  had  remained  which 
were  to  be  the  wonder,  perhaps,  of  many  thousand  years.  It  is 
impossible  to  determine  in  what  state  were  these  monuments, 
although  they  might  be  supposed  entire  from  the  epithet  broken 
being  applied  to  the  aqueducts,*  At  the  same  time  we  know- 
that  the  Theatre  of  Pompey  had  been  in  decay  three  hundred 
years  before,  and  that  the  ThermaB  had  been  altogether  disused 
for  the  same  period,  and  must  therefore  have  been  in  ruins. t 
The  Baths  of  Sallust  were,  it  may  be  thought,  partially  de- 
stroyed when  the  fire  of  Alaric  was  fatal  to  his  palace.  It  is 
probable  that  many  of  the  above  objects  served  merely  as  land- 
marks amongst  the  many  churches  which  form  the  chief  mcmo- 
rabilia  of  this  ecclesiastical  pilgrim,  who  adorns  the  twelfth  re- 
gion with  the  head  of  St.  John  the  Baptist.  In  the  same  man- 
ner the  Forum  of  Trajan  is  noted  by  two  authors  of  the; 
twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  although  it  must  have  been  in 
ruins  previous  to  either  of  those  dates. | 

*  The  aqueducts  are  called  Formoe.,  a  name  whicli  Cassiodorus  gives 
them.    Variar.  lib.  vii.  Form  vi.  torn,  i-  pag.  1 15. 

t  We  find  mention  of  baths  in  the  lives  of  the  popes,  as  in  that  of  St. 
Hadrian,  "  In  balneis  Lateranensibus  ;"  but  the  Tlierma;  had  never  been 
frequented  since  the  siege  of  Vitiges.  The  total  change  of  manners  in  mo- 
dern Rome  has  left  it  without  a  single  bath  open  to  tlie  public ;  nor  is  this 
a  usual  commodity  in  private  houses. 

i  Benedicti  Beati  Petri  Canonici,  liber  Pollicitus,  ad  Guidonem  deCas- 
tello,  written,  says  Mabillon,  ante  annum  mc.xliu  quo  Guido  iste  ad  pon- 


82 

Tiie  rising  importance  of  the  new  city  accelerated  the  ruin 
of  the  old.  From  the  time  that  Rome  again  became  worth  a 
contest,  we  find  her  citizens  in  arms,  sometimes  against  each 
other,  sometimes  against  the  pretenders  to  the  imperial  crown. 
The  spirit  of  feudalism  had  distracted  her  inhabitants.  Adal- 
bert and  Lambert,  the  Dukes  of  Tuscany  and  Spoleto,  were 
invited  to  inflame  the  civil  furies,*  and  in  the  beginning  of  the 
tenth  century,  Alberic,  Marquis  of  Camerino,  had  obtained  the 
dominion  of  Rome,  and  the  hand  of  the  famous  Marozia.t  The 
expulsion  of  Hugo,  king  of  Burgundy  and  Italy,  the  last  of  the 
three  husbands  of  that  "  most  noble  patrician,"  by  Alberic  the 
son  of  the  first,  and  the  repeated  assaults  of  the  city  by  the  ex- 
pelled tyrant,  arc  not  to  be  forgotten  amongst  the  causes  of  di- 
lapidation. J  The  assumption  of  the  imperial  c  "own  by  the 
first  Otho,  in  962,  and  the  revolts  of  the  Roman  captains,  or  pa- 
tricians, with  that  of  Crescentius,  against  Otho  the  Second  and 


tificatus  assumptus  est,  dictus  Celestinus  11-  see — Ordo  Romanus  XI.  ap. 
Mabill.  Museum  Italicuni,  torn.  ii.  pag.  118.  edit.  Paris  1724. 

See — Liber  de  rairabilibus  Romae  ap.  Mootfaucon.  Diarium  Italicutn, 
cap.  XX.  p.  28S  to  p  301.  edit  Paris  1702. 

In  the  year  1162,  there  was  a  church  with  gardens  and  houses  called 
St.  N^ccolo  alia  colomia  Trajana.  (Dissertazione  suUe  Rovine,  pag.  S55.) 
Flavius  Blondus,  without  mentioning  his  authority,  says  that  Synamachus 
1.  built  two  churches  there.  Syramachus  was  pope  in  500,  "  In  ejus  fori 
excelsis  mirabilibusque  ruinis  Symmachus  primus  Papa  ecclesias  S.  Ba- 
silii  et  item  S.  Silvestri  et  Martini  extruxit- 

Rom.  instaurata,  lib.  ii.  fo.  S8.  edit.  Taurin  1527- 

*  A.  D.  878,  according  to  the  Annali  d'  Italia. 

t  A.  D.  910  to  925. 

}  Mauratori  calls  Marozia  "  Nobilissima  Patricia  Romana,"  and  ap- 
pears to  disbelieve  a  part  of  the  "  laidezze  e  maldicenze"  charged  to  her 
by  Luitprand,  the  repository  of  all  the  pasquinades  and  defamatory  libels 
of  the  times.  Annali  d' Italia  ad  an.  911  torn.  v.  p.  267.  Marozia  had 
one  lover  a  Pope,  Sergius  UI.,  and  her  son  by  him,  or  more  probably  by 
her  first  husband,  Alberic,  was  John  XL,  Pope  from  931  to  935.  Guide, 
her  second  husband,  Duke  or  Marquis  of  Tuscany,  was  master  of  Rome 
from  925  to  929  ;  and  Hugo,  her  third  husband,  from  929  to  932-  Alberic 
her  son  reigned  as  patrician  and  consul  from  932  to  954 ;  beat  away  Hugo 
from  Rome  in  932,  in  936,  and  perhaps  941,  and  although  he  had  married 
the  king's  daugliter,  contributed  to  his  expulsion  from  Italy  in  946.  His 
son  OctHvian  reigned  as  patrician,  or  as  Pope  John  XIL,  until  962. 


83 

Third,*  had  renewed  the  wars  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  and  it 
is  probable  had  converted  many  of  the  larger  structures  into 
ruins  or  strong  holds. 

The  next  appearance  of  the  monuments  is  when  they  had. 
become  the  fortresses  of  the  new  nobility,  settled  at  Rome 
since  the  restoration  of  the  empire  of  the  west.t  Some  of 
these  monuments  were  perhaps  entire,  but  it  is  evident  that 
bome  of  them  were  in  ruins  when  they  first  served  for  dwell- 
ings or  forts  :  such  must  have  been  the  case  with  the  theatres 
of  Marcellus  and  of  Pompey.  How  they  came  into  the  hands 
of  their  occupiers,  whether  by  grant  of  the  Popes,  or  by 
seizure,  or  by  vacancy,  is  unknown  ;  one  instance  has  reached 
us  in  which  Stephen,  son  of  Ilildebrand,  consul  of  Rome  in 
975,  gave  to  the  monks  of  St.  Gregory  on  the  Caelian  mount 
an  ancient  edifice  called  the  Septem  solia  minor,  near  the 
Septizonium  of  Severus,  not  to  keep,  but  to  pull  down.f 
The  character  of  those  to  whom  the  present  was  made,  and 
the  purpose  for  which  it  was  granted,  will  account  for  the  ruin 
of  the  ancient  fabrics  in  that  period.  The  monks  were  after- 
wards joint  owners  of  the  Coliseum, §  and  the  columns  of  Tra- 

*  Rumani  capitanei  patriciatus  sibi  tyrannidem  vindicav^re — See — Ro- 
muald  Salem.  Chronic.  Miiratoii-  aniiali.  torn.  v.  p.  480.  ad  an.  987.  The 
Romans  rovultcd  in  974  987.  995,  996.  Crescentius  stood  a  siege  against 
Otho  III.,  and  was  beheaded  in  998  ;  and  another  revolt  took  place  in 
1001,  at  the  coronation  of  Conrad  II.  In  1027,  the  Germans  and  Romany 
again  fought  in  the  city. 

f  The  Frangipani,  the  Orsiiii,  the  Colonni,  were  certainly  foreign, 
and  perhaps  German  families,  although  they  all  pretended  a  Roman  de- 
scent The  first  when  reduced,  in  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  centurj-, 
to  Mario,  a  poor  knight,  Signorof  Nemi,  publi.'jhed  their  tree  to  identity 
their  family  with  that  of  Gregory  the  Great,  '•  del  quale  si  prova  il  prin- 
cipio  e  il  fine  mi  vi  fc  una  largura  di  200  anni  in  mezzo."  See — Relation 
di  Roma  del  Aimaden,  p.  139  edit.  1672,  which  may  be  consulted  for 
some  short,  but  singular  notices,  respecting  the  Roman  families. 

t  Mittarelli,  Annali  Camaldolesi,  torn.  i.  Append,  num.  xli  Coll.  96_ 
"  Donatio  templi  de  Septem  soliis  minoris  facta  a  Stephano  Jilio  quondam 
Ildebrandi  considis  et  duds  eidem  Johanni  abbah.  Id  crft  illud  meuin 
templum,  quod  septem  solia  minor  dicitur,  ut  ab  hac  die  vestrse  set  potes- 
tati  et  voluiitati  pro  tuitione  turris  vcstra;  quae  septem  solia  major  dicitur 
ad  destrucndum  et  suniplus  deprimendum  quantum  vobis  ^lacuerit."  P. 
9G.  edit.  1755 
<i  See — a  note  on  the  Coliseum. 

11 


84 

jan  and  Marcus  Aurelius  were  put  in  the  possession  of  reli- 
gious communities,  who  abandoned  them  to  total  neglect.* 
Whatever  were  the  means  by  which  they  obtained  possession, 
the  Orsini.  in  the  Xlth  and  Xllth  centuries,  had  occupied  the 
mole  of  Hadrian,  and  the  theatre  of  Pompey ;  the  Colonna, 
the  Mausoleum  of  Augustus,  and  the  baths  of  Constantine. 
The  Conti  were  in  the  Quirinal.  The  Frangipani  had  the 
Coliseum  and  the  Septizonium  of  Severus,  and  the  Janus  of 
the  Forum  Boarium,t  and  a  corner  of  the  Palatine.  The 
Savelli  were  at  the  tomb  of  Metella.  The  Corsi  had  fortified 
the  Capitol.  If  the  churches  were  not  spared,  it  is  certain 
the  pagan  monuments  would  be  protected  by  no  imagined 
sanctity,  and  we  find  that  the  Corsi  family  had  occupied  the 
Basilica  of  St.  Paul,|  without  the  walls,  and  that  the  Pan- 
theon was  a  fortress  defended  for  the  Pope.§ 

When,  in  the  eleventh  century,  the  quarrels  between  the 
Church  and  the  Empire  had  embroiled  the  whole  of  Italy. 
Rome  was  necessarily  the  chosen  scene  of  combat.  Within 
her  walls  there  was  space  to  fight,  and  there  were  fortresses  to 
defend.     We  read  accordingly,  in  the  annals  of  those  times, 

*  The  Aurelian  column  was  made  over  to  St.  Silvestro  in  capite,  and  a 
singuiar  inscription  is  to  this  day  seen  undtr  the  porch  of  that  church,  in 
whicli  those  who  should  alienate  the  column,  and  the  offerings,  are  ex- 
communicated by  the  authority  of  the  bishops  and  cardinals,  and  "  mul- 
torum  clericorum,  atque  lalcorum  qui  interfuerent-" 

The  writer  of  this  note  saw  it  on  the  spot.  A  copy  of  it  is  given  in 
Dissertaziooe,  See.  p.  349.  The  date  is  1 119  There  was  a  keeper  of 
the  column  in  193,  shortly  after  it  was  built  The  column  of  Trajan 
was  in  the  care  of  St.  Niccolo,  and  the  new  senate  and  people  in  1162 
oniered  that  it  should  not  be  wantonly  injured  under  pain  of  death  and 
coiifiscalion.  See — Dissertazione,  pp.  355,  356.  Yet  the  Antonine  co- 
lumn tiircatened  to  fall  when  repaired  by  Sixtus  Quintus.  See — de  Co- 
lli ^nna  triumphali  coaimentarius,  Josephi  Castalionis  ad  Sixtum  V-  ap. 
Gra?v.  r)m  iv.  p.  1947.  "Erat  valde  confracta  et  multis  in  locis  non 
rim-iS  modo  verum  et  fenestras  amplissiraas,  \  el  portas  discussis  marmo- 
rihis  duxerat ;"  and  the  base  of  the  column  of  Trajan  was  under  ground 
until  the  time  of  Paul  III. 

f  This  was  c-illed  Turris  Cencii  Frangipani,  and  the  remains  of  a  fort 
are  >=tJM  left  upon  the  summit. 

X  rt   naii  d'  itilia,   d  an.  1105.  p.  344.  torn.  vi. 

^  See — a  note  on  the  Pantheon. 


85 

of  armies  encamped  on  the  Aventine,  and  moving  from  the 
tomb  of  Hadrian  to  the  Lateran,  or  turning  aside  to  the  Co- 
liseum or  the  Capitol,  as  if  through  a  desert,  to  the  attack  of 
the  strong  posts  occupied  by  the  respective  partisans  of  the 
Pope  or  the  Empire.  Gregory  VII.  may  have  the  merit  of 
having  founded  that  power  to  which  modern  Rome  owes  all 
her  importance,  but  it  is  equally  certain,  that  to  the  same 
pontiff  must  be  ascribed  the  final  extinction  of  the  city  of  the 
Cassars ;  a  destruction  which  would  have  been  classed  w  th 
the  havoc  of  religious  zeal,  did  it  not  belong  more  properly 
to  ambition.*  The  Emperor  Henry  IV.,  the  troops  of  the 
Pope's  nephew,  Rusticus,  and  the  Normans  of  Robert  Guis- 
card,  were  more  injurious  to  the  remains  of  Rome,  from  1082 
to  1084,  than  all  the  preceding  Barbarians  of  every  age. 
The  first  burnt  a  great  part  of  the  Leonine  city,  and  ruined 
the  portico  of  St.  Peter :  he  destroyed  also  the  long  portico 
from  the  Ostian  gate  to  the  church  of  St.  Paul.  In  his  last 
irruption  he  levelled  a  part  of  the  Septizonium  to  dislodge 
Rusticus,  razed  the  fortresses  of  the  Corsi  on  the  Capitol,! 
and  battered  the  mole  of  Hadrian.     The  Normanst  and  Sa- 

*  Annali  d'ltalia.  ad  an.  1082,  1083, 1084.  torn.  vi.  p.  273  to  282. 

t  ''  Domos  Corsorum  subvertit,  dehinc  septem  s(»lia,  quihus  Rusticus 
nepos  prsedicti  Pontificis  continebatur,  obsidere  cum  ninltis  machinis 
bellicis  attcntavit,  de  quibus  quamplurimas  columnas  siibvortit  "  Baroniis. 
Annales  Ecclesiast  ad  an.  1084.  torn.  xvii.  p.  551.     Lucae  1740 

t  "  Robertus  autem  dux  Romam  cum  exercitu  noctu  ingressus  dum 
ad  ecclesiam  Sanctorum  Quatnor  Coronatorum  adveni«si!t  ex  con^ilio 
Cincii  Romanorum  Consulis  ignem  urbi  injecit:  Rom:ini  igitur  rii  novU 
tate  perculsi  dum  extinguendo  igni  toti  incumbennt,  Dux  ad  arcf  m  St. 
Angeli  continuo  properans.'^  • . .  Leo  Ostiensis.  (a  cotemporary )  ap  Barou. 
p.  553  in  loc  cit. 

Bertholdus  has  these  stronger  words :  "  Robertus  Guiscardus,  Dux 
Northraannorum  in  servitium  Sancti  Petri  post  kal-  Maii  Romam  armata 
raanu  invasit,  fugatoque  Henrico  totam  urbem  Gregorio  Papai  rfbellem 
f)enitus  expoliavit,  et  magnam  ejus  partem  igni  consumpsit,  eo  quod  Ro- 
mani  quendara  ejus  militem  viilneraverunt."  Ap  Baron  loc.  citat.  p.  552. 
A  poet,  Hugo  Flaviniacensis,  says  only,  "  Quil)usdam  sedibus  incensis." — 
Another  author,  "  Immo  ipse  cum  suis  totam  regionem  illam,  in  qua 
Ecclesia  Sancti  Silvestri,  ct  Sancti  Laurentii  in  Lucina  sitse  sunt,  penitus 

destruxit,  et  feread  nihilredegit Regiones  illas  circa  Lateranum 

et  Colisajum  positas  igne  coraburere."    C*u'din.  do  Ardgonia  et  aJiur. 


yacens  of  Guiscard's  army,  with  the  papal  faction,  burnt  the 
town  from  the  Flaminiau  gate  to  the  Antonine  column,  and 
laid  waste  the  sides  of  the  Esquiline  to  the  Lateran ;  thence 
he  set  fire  to  the  region  from  that  church  to  the  Coliseum  and 
the  Capitol,  or,  according  to  some  authorities,  to  the  Tiber. 
He  attacked  the  Coliseum  for  several  days,  and  finished  the 
ruin  of  the  Capitol.  It  is  reasonable  to  believe  that  the  flames 
were  arrested  by  the  wilderness  which  had  before  existed  to 
the  south  of  these  positions,  and,  indeed,  in  other  quarters. 
Besides  the  former  notice  of  farms  in  Rome,  we  find  that 
there  were  lands  cultivated  and  uncultivated  in  the  ninth  re- 
gion of  the  city,  about  the  Thermas  of  Alexander,  so  early 
as  the  year  998.* 

The  conflagration  of  Guiscard  created  or  confirmed  a  soli- 
tude much  more  extensive  than  is  embraced  by  that  "  spa- 

Vitae  Pontif.  Rom-  Ap.  Script.  Ror.  Ital.  torn.  iii.  p.  513. — And  other 

tvriters,  "  Per  diversa  Inca  civitatis  misccre  jubet  incendia Ipsis 

erpo  superatis,  et  civitatn  in  ma^na  sui  parte  coliisa."  Anonymi  Vatican!. 
Historia.  Sicula.  ap.  Scriptor.  Ker.  Ital.  torn  viii.  p.  773.  It  is  not  knowa 
uhen  he  lived. 

"  L'ux  itaquc  Romara  ingressvis  cepit  maxiraam  partem  urbis,  hostiliter 
incendfns  tt  vastans  a  Palatio  Laterani  usque  Castellum  S.  Angeli,  ubi 
Papa  Gregorius  oppugnabatur."  Romualdi  Salernitani  Chronicon.  ap. 
Sciiptor  Rer-  Ital  toin.  vii.  p  175.  He  Avas  archbishop  of  Salerno  from 
1153  OP  1154  to  1181.  "II  che  forse  non  uierita  niolta  credenza  :"  so 
Muratori  think?,  Annali  ad  an.  10t54. 

'■''  Urbs  majsima  ex  parte  incendio,  vento  admixto  accrescente,  consu- 
mitur  "     Gauferdi  Malatcnse,  ibid.  torn.  v.  p  5oo.     Hist  Sicula 

Landulfus  Senior,  the  Milanese  historian,  whom  the  Avriters  all  attack, 
because  he  declared  aj;;iinst  the  mad  ambition  and  celibacy  of  Gregory 
VII.,  and  for  the  introduction  of  «  hom  in  his  collection,  Muratori  thought 
himself  obliged  to  make  an  apology,  has  these  strong  expressions  on 
Guiscard's  fire.  "  Quid  multa  ?  tribus  civitatis  partibus,  mullis  que  pa- 
latiis  Regum  Romanorura  adustis,  Gregorius  demum  fillis  male  crisraa- 
tis  filiabusque  pejus  consecratis,  cui  jam  spes  ulla  vivendi  in  civitate  non 
crat  ab  urbe  exilitns  cum  Roberto  Salernum  profectus  est.  Ubi  per 
pauca  vivens  tempora  taniquam  malorum  paenam  emeritus  est"  Hist. 
Mcdiol.  lib- iv  cap  iii  Script- Rer- Itji  lie  torn.  iv.  p.  120  Landulphus 
was  a  coteraporary  writer. 

^  There  were  three  churches  also  in  these  precincts  rising  amongst 
crypts  and  fragments  of  columns  :  a  sign  to  whom  the  destruction  ^ould 
be- referred.    See — Dissertazione,  &tc.  p.  357. 


87 

cious  quarter  between  the  Lateran  and  the  Cohseum,"  to 
which  it  is  confined  by  our  own  historian.  From  that  period 
at  least  must  be  dated  the  desolation  of  a  great  part  of  the 
Esquiline,  and  all  the  Viminal,  and  much  of  the  Ccelian  hill, 
including  the  irretrievable  ruin  perhaps  of  the  Coliseum,  and 
Certainly  of  many  of  the  remaining  structures  of  the  Fo- 
rums and  the  Sacred  Way.*  A  cotemporary  writer!  says, 
that  all  the  regions  of  the  city  were  ruined  ;  and  another 
•pcctator,  who  was   in  Romej.  twelve  years  afterwards,  la- 

*  There  was  a  proverb,  even  in  this  day,  which  speaks  the  beauty  of 
the  Roman  edifices  :  "  Unde  in  proverhiuin  dictum  est :  Mediolanum  in 
dericis,  Papia  in  deliciis,  Roma  in  (Edificiis,  Ravtnna  in  ecdesiis."  Lan- 
dulfi,  Sen.  lib.  iii  cap.  i.  p.  96. 

Flavins  Biondus  quotes  the  epistles  of  Gregory  VII.,  and  his  biogra- 
pher Pandulphus,  above  cited,  for  the  battles  of  the  Coliseum,  but  they 
are  not  mentioned  in  the  first,  they  may  be  in  the  second.  He  attributes 
the  desolation  of  Rome,  as  he  saw  it,  to  Guisc;ird  ;  this,  however,  was 
not  Caesarean  Rome,  but  that  restored  by  the  Popes.  "  Ea  nos  et  ;ilia 
Henriri  quarti  temporibus  gesta  considerantes,  conjiciraus  urbera  Roraa- 
nam  quae  Pontificum  Romanorum  beneficio  imminutas  longe  supra  vires 
non  parum  instauraverat,  tunc  prima  ad  banc  quae  nostris  inest  tempori- 
bus rerum  exiguitatem  esse  perductara."  Quoted  in  Dissertazione,  fete, 
p.  842.     Query  instauratu  erat. 

f  Boninzone,  bishop  of  Sutri,  in  Dissertazione,  p.  S'lO. 
X  Hiidebert,  archbishop  of  Tours,  was  in  Rome,   1106.     William  of 
Malmsbury,  De  gestis  Rer.  Angl.  lib.  iii    p.  1S4,  gives  the  following 
elegy- 
Par  tibi  Roma  nihil,  cum  sis  prope  tota  ruina 

Quam  magna  fueris  integra  fracta  doces. 
Proh  dolor  !  urbs  cecidit  cujus  dum  specto  ruinas 

Penso  statum,  solitus  dicere  ;  Roma  fuit. 
Non  tamen  annorum  series,  non  flamma,  nee  ignis 

Ad  plenum  potuit  hoc  abolere  decus. 
Tantum  restat  adhuc,  tantum  ruit,  ut  neque  pars  stans 

^quari  possit,  diruta  nee  refici. 
Confer  opes,  ebur,  et  marmor,  superumque  favorem 

Artificum  vigilent  in  nova  facta  manus. 
Non  tamen  aut  fieri  par  stanti  fabrica  muro 

Aut  restaurari  sola  ruina  potest. 
Cura  hominem  potuit  tantani  componere  Romam 

Quantum  non  potuit  solvere  cura  deum. 
Hie  5uperum  formas  superi  mirantur  et  ipsi, 
Et  cupiunt  fictis  vultibus  esse  pares. 


naents,  that  although  what  remained  could  not  be  equalled 
what  was  ruined  could  never  be  repaired.  What  chiefly  ex- 
cited his  astonishnient  was  the  beauty  of  the  statues,  which 
the  gods  themselves  might  survey  with  envy,  and  which,  in 
his  opinion  at  least,  were  worthy  of  being  worshipped  on  the 
sculptor's  account.  WilUam  of  Malmsbury,  who  reports  the 
elegy  of  the  latter  writer,  also  informs  us,  that,  comparatively 
speaking,  Rome  was  now  become  a  little  town.  In  those 
times  the  rage  of  the  conflicting  factions  was  often  vented 
against  the  houses  of  their  enemies,  and  their  destruction 
must  have  involved  that  of  the  neighbouring  monuments,  or 
of  those  in  which  the  towers  of  the  Roman  nobles  were,  in 
many  instances,  built.  In  1116  the  citizens  revolting  against 
Pope  Paschal  II.,  threw  down*  several  of  the  dwellings  of 
the  Pietro  Leone  family.  The  Emperor  Lothaire  II.  in 
1133  or  1134,  pitched  his  camp  on  the  Aventine.  Innocent 
II.  was  in  possession  of  the  Lateran,  the  Coliseum,  and  the 
Capitol ;  and  the  partisans  of  the  anti-pope,  Anaclete,  had 
tne  Vatican,  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  and  many  other  strong 
plaoes  of  the  cityt.  In  the  annals  of  the  Xllth  century  these 
strong  places  of  Rome  are  mentioned  as  if  they  stood  not  in 
a  city,  but  in  a  province.  The  struggles  between  the  pontiffs 
and  the  people,  the  revolution  of  Arnold  of  Brescia4  renew- 

Non  potuit  natura  deos  hoc  ore  creare 

Quo  miranda  deum  signa  creavit  homo 
Vultus  adest  his  numinibus,  potiusque  coluntur 

Artificum  studio  quam  deitate  sua. 

Urbs  felix  si  vel  dominis  urbs  ilia  careret 

Vel  dominis  esset  turpe  carere  fide. 

George  Fabricius  gives  a  part  of  this  elegy  in  his  Epistola  Nuncupatoria 

prefixed  to  his  Descriptio  Romae,  ap.  Greev.  torn.  iii. 

*  Annali  d'  Italia,  torn,  vi,  p.  384. 

f  Mr  Gibbon  says,  "  I  cannot  recover  in  Muratori's  original  lives  of 
the  Popes  (Script.  Rerum  Italicarum,  torn.  iii.  p.  1-)  the  passage  that  at- 
tests this  hostile  partition,"  namely,  "whilst  ©ne  faction  occupied  the 
Vatican  and  the  Capitol,  the  other  was  intrenched  in  the  Lateran  and  the 
Coliseum,"  cap.  Ixxi.  p.  420.  vol.  xii.  The  division  is  mentioned  iu  Vita 
Jnnocentii  Papje  II.  ex  Cardinale  Aragonio,  Script.  Rer.  Ital.  torn.  iii.  part 
i.  p.  435,  and  he  might  have  found  frequent  other  records  of  it  at  other 
dates, 
t  It  began  in  1143,  and  was  matured  in  1145. 


89 

<»d  the  contests  of  Vitelliiis  and  Sabinus  for  the  Capitol,  from 
which  were  alternately  driven  the  adherents  of  the  new  se- 
nate and  friends  of  the  Pope.  The  Basilica  of  St.  Peter's 
was  fortified  for  the  people,  and  in  those  commotions  (in 
1145)  it  is  recorded  that  many  of  the  towers  and  palaces  of 
the  Roman  nobles  were  levelled  with  the  ground.* 

Antiquaries  have  been  able  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  ruins 
fifty  years  subsequently  to  the  fire  of  Guiscard,  in  some  ac- 
count of  the  ceremonials  and  processions  of  the  papal  court, 
written  by  a  canon  and  chorister  of  St.  Peter's,t  who,  besides 
those  monuments  whose  names  are  recognisable,  mentions 
several  objects  disfigured  by  the  barbarism  of  the  times. 

The  caution  before  given  must  be  repeated.  There  is 
good  reason  to  suspect  that  many  of  the  monuments  which  he 
mentions  were  not  entire,  but  were  noted  as  landmarks,  as 
they  might  be  at  this  day.  The  same  canon  gives  us  to  un- 
derstand, that  the  roads  in  the  city  were  then  so  bad,  that  in 
the  short  days  the  Pope  was  obliged  to  conclude  his  proces- 

*  Annali  d'  Italia,  torn.  vi.  p.  481. 

t  Benedict!.  Beati.  Petri.  Canonici,  &tc.  quoted  before.  He  mentions 
the  Arch  of  Gratian,  Theodosius,  and  Valentinian,  near  the  iEiian  bridg;e ; 
the  Obelisk  of  Nero  ;  the  Circus  of  Alexander,  in  the.  Piazza  Navona  ; 
the  Temple  of  Concord,  near  the  Arch  of  Severus  ;  the  Arch  and 
Temple  of  Nerva  (Nervije) ;  a  Temple  of  Janus ;  the  Forum  of  Trajan  ; 
the  Forum  of  Csesar  ;  the  Arch  of  Titus  and  Vespasian,  called  Septem 
Lucernarum  ;  the  Arch  of  Constantine  ;  the  Coliseum ;  the  Theatre  of 
Pompey;  the  Pantheon,  which  he  is  thought  to  have  called  Porticus 
Agrippinse,  though  in  fact  he  calls  it  Sancta  Maria  Rotunda,  Militioe, 
Tiberianae,  on  the  Quirinal ;  the  Arch  of  Piety  ;  the  Memoria,  or  Tem- 
ple, or  Castle  of  Adrian ;  the  Templum  Fatale,  near  the  Temple  of 
Concord ;  the  Pine,  near  the  Palatine ;  the  Arcus  Manus  Carncae  ;  the 
Mamertine  dungeon  ;  the  Asylus,  through  the  flinty  road,  (Silicem)  where 
Simon  Magus  fell,  and  near  the  Temple  of  Romulus ;  the  Meta  Sudans  ; 
the  Sepulchre  of  Romulus,  near  the  Vatican  ;  a  Portico  of  the  Gallati 
before  the  Temple  of  the  Sybil  ;  the  Temple  of  Cicero  ;  the  Portico  of 
the  Comori,  or  Crinori ;  the  Basilica  of  Jupiter ;  the  Arch  of  Flaminius  ; 
the  Porticus  Severinus  ;  the  Temple  of  Craticula  ;  the  island  Milit  ena 
and  the  Draconorium  ;  the  Via  Arenula ;  the  Theatre  of  Antoninus ;  the 
Palace  of  Cromatius,  where  was  the  Holomitreum,  or  Oloritreum  ;  the 
Macellus  Lunanus,  or  Eumanus  (an  Arch,  probably  that  of  Gallimus); 
the  Temple  of  Blarius,  called  Cimber ;  the  Merulana ;  the  arcus  in  La- 
thone  ;  the  house  of  Orpheus.  )See — Musonni.  Italicinn,  tarn.  ii.  p.  118 
to  157,  edit.  Paris,  1724-. 


9a 

sion  before  he  came  to  the  station  prescribed  by  the  ritual.* 
The  language  in  which  these  ceremonies  are  described,  is  as 
barbarous  as  the  ceremonies  themselves  ;  of  which  a  cardinal, 
who  transcribed  another  ritual  belonging  to  the  same  century, 
has  also  preserved  an  extraordinary  specimen.  It  would  be 
difficult  to  find  a  more  deplorable  picture  of  human  vicissitude 
than  that  afforded  by  the  contrast  of  the  triumph  of  Pompey 
through  republican  Rome,  and  the  progress  of  a  Pope  of  the 
twelfth  century,  on  the  day  of  his  coronation,  preceded  by 
his  sub-deacon  with  a  spitting-towel,  followed  by  the  new 
senators  with  their  provision  of  wine,  meat,  and  towels,  and 
picking  his  way,  amongst  fallen  fragments,  from  shrine  to 
shrine,  and  ruin  to  ruin.t 

The  monuments  are  occasionally  mentioned  in  the  struggle^ 
between  the  pontiffs  and  the  emperors  of  the  house  of  Suabia, 
and  the  intestine  factions  of  the  nobles,  in  which  the  strong 
places,  the  Coliseum,  the  Septizonium,  the  Mole  of  Hadrian, 
the  Palatine  castle  of  the  Frangipani,  were  repeatedly  as- 
saulted and  taken.  In  1150  the  people  attacked  and  took 
certain  towers  belonging  to  the  adherents  of  the  Pope  and 
William  of  Sicily. 

We  find,  in  the  Annals  for    1167,  that   the  Germans  of 

"^  "  Sed  propter  parvitatem  diei  et  difficultatem  vise,  facit  slationem  ad 
Sanctam  Mariam  Majorem,  et  vadit  in  secretarium.''  Ibid,  num-  17,  p. 
126  The  triumph  of  Aurelian  lasted  so  long  that  it  was  dark  before  he 
reached  the  palace,  but  from  a  very  different  jeason.  "Denique  vix 
nona  hora  in  capitoliiim  pervenit.  Sero  autem  ad  palatium,"  Vopisc. 
in  Vita  Aurelian. 

f  "  Ante  dominum  Papam  aliquantulum  sequestratus  incedit  prior 
subdiaconus  re<;ionarius  cum  toalea,  ut  cum  voluit  dominus  Papa  spuere 
posbit  illo  gausape  os  suum  mundare."  Ordo  Romanus  XII  by  Oriciu» 
de  Sabellis,  cardinal  and  chamberlain  to  Celestine  III  He  was  after- 
wards Honorius  III  The  ritual  was  used  before  the  year  mcxcii.  See — 
Museum  Italicuni,  torn,  ii  p   165  to  p.  220. 

"  Senatores,  quando  comedunt,  habere  debent  lavinam  mediam  vini 
et  mediam  claret i  in  unaquaque  die  coronationis.  Eiisdem  etiam  dntur 
toalea,  ubi  comedunt,  a  panetariis,  et  postmodum  redditur  ipsis  Pro 
quadragintacomeslionem  rccipiunt  unaquaque  die  coronationis"  Onufrius 
Panvinius  renders  lavinam  "  psalraam,  or  salmam,  quo  nomine  saginji 
seu  onus  ac  sarcina  equi  aliusque  animalis  oniferi  intelligitur."  Ibid- 
num-  xxxvi.  p.  202.  As  the  new  senators  had  food  for  foiiij  allowed, 
them,  we  may  guess  at  their  usual  number,  which  has  been  so  uncertain. 


91 

Frederic  Barbafossa  assaulted  the  Vatican  for  a  week,  and 
the  Pope  saved  himself  in  the  Coliseum.*  The  Colonna 
were  driven  from  the  mausoleum  of  Augustus.  After  the 
Popes  had  begun  to  yield  in  the  unequal  contest  wilh  the 
senators  and  people,  and  had  ceased  to  be  constantly  resident 
at  their  capital,  the  field  was  left  open  for  the  wars  of  the 
senators,  that  is,  of  the  nobles  themselves.  The  Colonna 
and  Ursini  then  appear  amongst  the  destroyers  of  the  city ; 
and  when,  to  arrest  their  violence,  the  people  elected  the 
senator  Brancaleone  (in  1252),  the  expedient  of  the  Bolog- 
nese  magistrate  was  to  throw  down  not  only  140  of  the 
towers  of  the  refractory  nobles,!  but,  if  we  are  to  believe  the 
Augustan  historyj  of  Henry  VII.,  "  many  palaces  of  kings  and 
generals,  the  remains  of  ages  since  the  building  of  the  city, 
the  thermae,  the  fanes,  and  the  columns,"  of  the  old  town. 
If  this  were  the  case,  the  tumults  and  tlie  repose  of  Rome 
were  alike  destructive  of  her  ancient  fabrics.     This  record 


»  Annali,  torn.  vi.  p.  576,  et  seq. 

t  "  Brancaleo  interim  senator  Roraanus,  turres  nobilium  Romanorum 
diruit  et  eorundem  dominos  incarceravit."  Mat.  Paris.  Henric  III  p. 
972,  edit.  Lond.  1640. 

"  Eodem  quoqne  anno  senator  Romanus  Brancaleo  videns  insolentiam 
et  superbiam  nobiliinn  Romanorum  non  posse  aJiter  reprirai  nisi  castra 
eorum,  qui  erant  quasi  spoliatorum  carceres,  prosternerentur,  dirui  fecit 
eorundem  nobilium  turres  circiter  centum  et  quadraginta,  et  solo  tenus 
complanari."     Ibid.  p.  975. 

"  Fuerat  enim  superborum  potentum  et  malefactorura  urbis  malleus  et 
extirpator,  et  populi  protector  et  defensor,  veritatis  et  justitia;  imitator, 
etamator."     lb.  p.  9tiO. 

i  "  Nee  hactenus  subsistlt  viri  audentis  [Jacob-Joannis-Arloti  degli 
Stephanesci]  acerbitas  ut  si  quidem  Brancaleonem,  Bononiensem  (qui 
regum,  ac  dutum  per  tot  ab  urbe  condita  soecula  palatia,  thermas,  fana, 
columnas,  verterat  in  ruinas)  ipse  memorabiliter  sujieraret."  Alberti 
Mussati,  historia  Auj^usta,  de  gestis.  Henrici  VII.  lib  xi.  rubrica  xii.  ap. 
Scriptores  Rerum  Itaiicarum,  torn.  x.  p.  508,  edit  Mediol.  1727.  Mus- 
satus  was  a  Paduan,  born  about  the  year  1260,  a  laureate  poet,  and  an 
historian.  See  the  preface  by  Muratori,  prefixed  to  the  collection,  torn. 
X.  kc 

Mr.  Gibbon  (cap.  Ixix.  p.  286  to  288,  vol.  xii.  oct.),  who  has  copio '  the 
eulogy  of  MatthcAV  Paris,  does  not  seem  at  all  aware  that  Brancaleone 
applied  his  hammer  to  the  ancient  fabrics.  Mussatus,  however,  was  * 
contemporary. 

12 


92 

iBust,  however,  t^  believed  with  gome  reserve  ;  and,  indeed, 
the  same  history  informs  us,  that  there  were  relics  which 
escaped  the  vigour  of  this  administration,  and  which  a  rival 
of  the  fame  of  Brancaleone  (in  1313)  intended  to  destroy. 
But  his  labours  were  confined  to  a  single  tower,  which  im- 
peded the  passage  of  the  people  across  the  Tiber,  at  the 
bridge  of  Santa  Maria. 

There  were  intervals  between  the  death  and  choice  of  the 
Popes,  when  the  city  seems  to  have  been  unprovided  with 
any  recognised  authorities,  and  the  senate  itself  had  no  re- 
presentative. Such  an  interregnum  occurred  after  the  death 
of  Nicholas  IV.  in  1291,  and  six  months  of  civil  war*  are  de- 
scribed by  a  spectator  as  having  reduced  Rome  to  the  condi- 
tion of  a  town  besieged,  bombarded,  and  burnt.  The  petraricB, 
or  engines  for  discharging  stones,  which  unfortunately  sur- 
vived the  loss  of  other  ancient  arts,  had  arrived  in  the  twelfth 
and  thirteenth  centuries,  to  the  pernicious  perfection  of  dart- 
ing enormous  masses,  perhaps  of  1 200  pounds  weight.  They 
are  noted  amongst  the  instruments  of  destruction  employed 
at  Rome  in  this  and  the  subsequent  period,  and  were  erected 
on  the  basilicas  and  towers.t 

A  year  previously  to  the  attempt  of  the  second  Brancaleone,  J 

*  "  Assumpti  popiUi  capitolia  jussu 
Ascendunt :  sed  morte  ducis  vis  annua  raense 
Clauditur  Ursini,  timidoque  furentis  in  arma 
Descensu,  dum  scripta  petit,  dum  fossa  sigilla. 
Quo  gradior  ?  quid  plura  sequor,  quae  texere  iongum  ? 
Hoc  dixisse  sat  est ;  Romam  caruisse  senatu. 
Mensibus  exactis,  heu!  sex,  belloque  vocatum 
In  scelus,  in  socios,  fraternaque  vulnera  patres. 
Tormentis  jecisse  viros  immania  saxa 
reii'odisse  domos  trabibus^  fecisse  ruinas 

Jgnibus,  inceijsas  turres " 

See — Vita  Ceiestini  Papse  V.  opus  metricum.  Jacobi  Cardinalis  S. 
Georgii  ad  velum-aureum.  Cosevi  et  in  Papatu  familiaris.  Script.  Rer. 
"Ital.  torn.  iii.  p.  621,  cap.  iii.  This  classical  cardinal  chooses  to  correct 
velabro,  the  actual  old  word,  into  velum-aureum.  The  fra6c5  were  bat- 
tering rams,  called  gatii,  cat's-head. 

t  Antiq.  Med-  ^Evi.  Dissert.  96,  p.  432,  tom.  1.  Italian  edition.    The 
Romans  used  them  in  the  ninth  century- 
t  His  name  was  James- John -Arloti-Stephanisci.     See  the  above  note 


93 

flie  Emperor,  Henry  VII.  had  found  that  all  the  towers  had 
not  been  thrown  down  by  the  Bolognese  senators,  for  he  was 
obliged  to  drive  the  Annibaldi  from  the  Torre  de'  Militii,  from 
the  tower  of  St.  Mark,  and  from  the  Coliseum ;  and,  so  late 
as  the  reign  of  Martin  V.  there  were  forty-four  towers  in 
one  borgo  of  the  city.* 

The  coronation  of  the  Emperor  Henry  VII.  was  attended 
with  battles  fought  in  every  quarter  of  the  city  from  the  Vati- 
can to  the  Lateran  ;t  and  whilst  he  received  the  ensigns  of 
universal  empire  in  the  latter  church,  his  rival  John,  the  bro- 
ther of  Robert  of  Naples,  was  in  possession  of  the  fortress 
(the  church)  of  St.  Peter's,  and  of  several  other  posts  in  thef 
heart  of  Rome.  The  fall  of  houses,  the  fire,  the  slaughter, 
the  ringing  of  the  bells  from  all  the  churches,  the  shouts  of  the 
combatants,  and  the  clanging  of  arms,  the  Roman  people 
rushing  together  from  all  quarters  towards  the  Capitol — this 
universal  uproar  was  the  strange,  but  not  unusual,  pre- 
lude to  the  coronation  of  a  Caesar.  A  spectator  of  these 
disasters  records,  J  that  they  continued  after  the  emperor  had 
retired  from  Rome  to  Tivoli,  and  that  the  cardinals  appre- 
hended the  total  destruction  of  the  city. 

It  is  doubtful  to  what  period  to  assign  an  account  of  the  ruins 
which  a  pilgrim  saw  and  described  before  this  last  calamit}'. 
The  book  on  "  the  Wonders  of  itome" "which  has  been  before 
cited,  should  appear  to  have  been  written  before  Brancaleone 

1,  p.  135.  The  Abate  Fea,  Dissertazione,  &.c.  p.  861,  362,  seems  to 
overlook  that  this  Stephanisci  and  his  adherents  did  not  succeed.  "  Sed 
secus  ac  prKmedStati  sunt,  fortuna,  successusque  vota  eorum  distraxere," 
says  Mussatus,  in  loc  citat-  The  Abate  believes  he  discovers  signs  of 
modern  work  on  the  portico  of  the  temple  of  Faustina,  and  above  the 
arch  of  Pantani,  which  he  thinks  were  thrown  down  by  Brancaleone- 

*  Dissertazione  26,  sopra  le  Antichita  Italiane,  p-  -146.  torn.  i.  edid-  Mi- 
lan, 1751. 

t  "  Historia  Augusta,  Albert.  Mussati  in  loc.  citat.  lib.  viii.  Rubrica 
rV.  conversatio  Cxsaris  cum  Ronianorum  principibu^,  et  cohortatio  ad 
dandas  fortiiitias."  Henry  made  a  speech  to  these  prujces,  and  called 
them  '«  QutnVfes."     See  Rubrica  V. 

X  See — Iter  Italicum  Henrici  VII.  Imperat.  Nicolai  episcopi  Botron- 
tinensis  ap.  Scriptores  Rerum  Italicarum,  torn.  ix.  p.  835.  "Rebus 
quas  narrat  interfuit,"    Muratori  says,  in  his  preface, 

"  Deinde  Cardinales  videntes  commotionem  populi  et  urbis  eontHi«»m 
destructionem."    Ibid.  p.  919. 


94 

had  commenced  his  operations  against  the  towers  of  the  no- 
hles,  for  there  are  a  great  many  of  such  objects  noticed  by  the 
pilgrim.  The  eyes  and  ears  of  this  "  barbarous  topogra- 
pher"* are  not  so  valuable  to  us  as  Mr.  Gibbon  appears  to 
have  supposed  ;  for  notwithstanding  his  use  of  the  present 
tense,  he  speaks  certainly  of  many  objects  either  partially 
ruined  or  totally  overthrown.  The  number  of  the  theatres 
and  arches  seen  by  him  is  nearly  equal  to  that  in  the  plan  of 
old  Rome :  he  talks  of  an  imperial  palace  in  the  Palatine,  of 
a  palace  of  Romulus,  and,  in  other  respects,  is  ambitious  of 
telling  what  he  had  heard,  rather  than  what  he  had  seen.t 
Of  his  antiquarian  lore  our  historian  has  given  a  specimen  in 
his  account  of  the  Capitoline  bells  and  statues  ;t  and  to  this 
may  be  added,  that  he  calls  the  Fasti  of  Ovid  the  martyrolo- 
gy,  because  it  contains  mention  of  nones  and  kalends.  The 
pilgrim  was  as  learned  as  the  people  of  Rome,  some  of  whom, 
in  the  next  century,  believed  that  the  sports  of  the  Testacean 
mount,  and  the  rolling  cart-loads  of  live  hogs  down  that  hill, 
were  the  festal  amusements  of  Cato  and  Cicero.  § 

The  absence  of  the  popes  from  the  year  1306  to  1376  has 
been  esteemed  peculiarly  calamitous  to  the  ancient  fabrics  : 
but  this  supposition  is  founded  upon  the  apparently  false  con- 
ception, that  the  bishops  of  Rome  protected  the  monuments, 
and  that  the  integrity  <3f  many,  even  of  the  larger  structures, 
was  protracted  to  the  fourteenth  century.  The  only  protec- 
tion of  which  the  remains  of  the  old  town  could  boast,  during 
the  middle  ages,  proceeded  from  the  popular  government, 

*  Decline  and  Fall,  kc  cap.  Ixsi.  p.  399,  vol.  xxl.  oct. 

f  "  Palatia  magna  imperatorum  ista  sunt,  palatium  majus  in  Palentio 
monte  positum."     See — Montf.  Diar.  Ital.  in  loc.  citat.  p.  £G4. 

"  Palatium  Romuli  inter  S.  Mariam  novum  et  S.  Cosmatem  ubi  sunt 
duae  sedes  pietatis  et  concordiae,  ubi  posuit  Romulus  statuam  suam  auream 
dicens."  "  Non  cadet  nisi  virgo  paret ;  statim  ut  parturit  viigo,  statua 
ilia  corruit.''    Ibid. 

X  Decline  and  Fall,  cap.  Ixxi.  p.  395,  torn.  xii.  octav. 

^  "Ludi  fiunt  agonales,  aut  in  campo  quern  Testaceum  appellant,  quem 
nonnulli  hodie  ex  vulgo  putant  veturum  senatorum  gestamen  extitisse." 
See — Frederici  III.  advent.  Rom.  ap.  Museum  Italicum,  torn.  i.  p.  258, 
edit.  1724. 


♦  95 

which  on  one  occasion  prohibited  the  injury  of  the  column  of 
Trajan  under  the  pain  of  death.*  The  senate  and  the  peo- 
ple were  invested  with  the  nominal  guardianship  of  the  edi- 
fices not  occupied  by  the  nobles,  and  in  much  later  times  may 
be  discerned  to  have  shown  some  respect  to  the  memorials  of 
their  ancestors.  A  northern  German,  who  came  to  Rome  in 
the  pontificate  of  Pius  IV.  and  whom  Flaminius  Vacca  calls  a 
Goth,  applied  to  the  apostolic  chamber  for  permission  to  ex- 
cavate at  the  base  of  some  of  the  ancient  structures,  in  search 
of  treasure,  which  his  barbarous  ancestors  were  supposed  to 
have  left  behind  them  in  the  precipitancy  of  three  days  plun- 
der. The  German  was  told  that  permission  must  be  obtain- 
ed from  the  Roman  people,  to  whom  the  monuments  belong- 
ed. It  seems  that  he  procured  leave  to  commence  his  la- 
bours ;  but  having  been  observed  to  dig  deeply,  the  populace, 
alarmed  at  his  progress,  which  endangered  their  arch,  and  in- 
dignant that  the  Goths  should  return  to  complete  the  spoliation" 
of  Alaric,  drove  the  excavator  from  his  labours,  with  a  vio- 
lence which  proved  nearly  fatal  to  him. t 

Had  it  been  possible  to  establish  the  popular  government 
which  was  the  aim  of  Rienzi,  during  the  absence  of  the  popes, 
the  Romans,  whose  love  of  liberty  was  to  be  kept  alive  by  a 
constant  reference  to  the  institutions  of  their  ancestors,  would 
have  been  taught  to  venerate,  though  bhndly,  the  trophies  of 
their  former  glory.  The  tribune  would  not  have  partaken 
with  Colonna  alone  the  pride  and  pleasure  to  be  derived  from 
the  study  of  those  eloquent  remains.  Notwithstanding  their 
pastor  had  deserted  them,  and  they  were  a  prey  to  the  disor- 
ders occasioned  by  the  struggles  of  their  ferocious  nobles,  the 
period  of  the  exile  at  Avignon  is  distinguished  for  the  decency 
and  magnificence  with  which  their  public  functions  were  per- 
formed.!     In  proportion  as  they  shook  off  the  papal  yoke, 

*  See  note,  p.  84. 

t  Mcmorie  di  Flaminio  Vacca,  p.  xvi.  num.  103.  The  Memoirs  were 
written  in  159t,andareat  the  end  of  oneof  the  Italian  editions  of  Nardini. 

t  "  Veniva  la  persona  del  Senatore  con  maesta  a  cavallo  sopra  bianca 
chinea,  he. 

" Veniva  il  Gonfaloniere  del  Popolo  Romano:  e  questo  dignita  si  in 
pace,  corae  in  guerra  porta  lo  standard©  grandc  della  liherta  Roniana,  il 
quale  era  di  tabi  creraesino  con  Ic  Icttere  -}-  S.  P.  Q.  R." 


96 

they  appear  to  have  recovered  some  portion  of  their  ancient 
splendour,  and  a  change  has  been  observed  to  have  taken  place 
in  their  manners  so  early  as  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  centiu 
ry.  They  received  the  unfortunate  Conradin*  in  1268  with  a 
state  which  surprised  his  suite.  The  desolation  of  the  city 
during  the  papal  residence  at  Avignon  has  been  selected  from 
ages  of  more  rapid  destruction,  because  it  has  been  trans- 
mitted to  us  in  all  the  colours  of  eloquence.  Petrarch,  how- 
ever, has  been  unfairly. quoted  as  a  proof  of  what  Rome  suf- 
fered by  the  absence  of  the  popes.!  It  should  be  remember- 
ed, that  his  first  wish  was  the  establishment  of  the  republic  of 
Rienzi,  and  the  second,  the  reign  and  presence  of  an  em- 
peror at  Rome :  whilst  the  reconciliation  of  the  shepherd 
with  his  flock  was  only  the  last  resource  which  remained  for  a 
patriot  and  a  Roman  who  had  lost  all  hope  of  liberty  or  em- 
pire.J  One  of  those  shepherds.  Innocent  VI.,  thought  Pe- 
trarch a  sorcerer.  The  poet  of  the  Capitol§  was  overwhelm- 
ed first  with  delight  and  then  with  regret.  He  complained 
that  the  very  ruins  were  in  danger  of  perishing ;  that  the 
nobles  were  the  rivals  of  time  and  the  ancient  barbarians  ;|| 

See  Ordine  e  magnificenza  de  i  magistrati  Roraani  nel  tempo  che  la 
Corte  del  Papa  stava  In  Avignone.  Antiq.  Med.  JEvi.  torn.  ii.  p.  855, 
Dissert.  29.  The  wi-iter  praises  not  only  their  scarfs  and  velvets,  but 
their  justice,  and  virtue,  and  republican  pride. 

*  Antiq.  Med.  ^vi.  dissert.  23.  torn,  ii.  pag.  313.  Muratori,  accord- 
ing to  the  old  way  of  thinking,  talks  of  "  quel  ladro  del  lusso." 

f  By  the  Abate  Fea  in  his  dissertation. 

X  Decline  and  J^'ali,  c  Ixx.  pag.  363.  torn.  xii.  oct.  See  also  M^moires 
pour  la  vie  de  Fetrarque,  liv.  iii.  torn,  ii  p.  335.  for  Rienzi :  also  liv.  iv. 
torn,  iii- pag.  66.  for  the  emperor  Charles.  For  what  he  thought  of  the 
church,  see  liv.  iv.  p.  277.  torn.  iii.  edit.  Amsterdam,  1747. 

v^  For  the  surprise  of  Petrarch,  when  he  first  came  to  Rome,  see  his 
letter  to  John  Colonna,  de  reb.  familiarib.  epist.  lib.  ii.  ep.  xiv.  pag.  605- 
edit.  Basil,  1581,  "ab  urbi  Roma  quod  expectat,"  &c.  Colonna,  how- 
ever, had  told  him  not  to  expect  too  much.  "  Solebas  enim,  memini, 
uie  vcniendo  dehortari  hoc  maxime  prtetextu,  nc  ruinosoe  urbis  aspectu 
iiimse  non  respondente  atque  opinioni  meee,  ex  libris  conceptae,  ardor 
meus  ille  lentesceret."  Colonna's  evidence  is  better  than  Petrarch's,  who 
would  be  astonished  now,  as  we  are,  at  what  still  remains. 
[j  Nee  te  parva  raanet  servatis  fama  ruinis- 
Quanta  quod  integrse  fuit  olim  gloria  Romce 


97 

and  that  the  columns  and  precious  marbles  of  Rome  were  de- 
voted to  the  decoration  of  the  slothful  metropolis  of  their 
Neapolitan  rivals.  Yet  it  appears  that  these  columns  and 
marbles  were  taken  from  palaces  comparatively  modern,  from 
the  thresholds  of  churches,  from  the  shrines  of  sepulchres, 
from  structures  to  which  they  had  been  conveyed  from  their 
original  site,  and  finally  from/a//m  ruins.*  The  solid  masses 
of  antiquity  are  not  said  to  have  suffered  from  this  spoliation, 
and  the  edifices,  whose  impending  ruin  affected  the  laureate, 
were  the  sacred  Basilicas  then  converted  into  fortresses.! 
The  great  earthquake  of  1349  may  have  been  more  pemi- 

Reliquiee  testantur  adhuc ;  quas  longior  setas 

Frangere  non  valuit ;  non  vis  aut  ira  cruenti 

Hostis,  ab  egregiis  franguntur  civibus,  heu  !  heu ! 

Quare  rabies  occurre  malis,  hoc  scilicet  unum. 
Quod  ille  [Hannibal)  nequivit 

Perfecit  hie  aries — tua  fortia  pectora  mendaz 

Gloria  non  moveat,  &.c. 
Carmina  Latina,  1.  ii.  epist.  Paulo  Annibalensi,  xii.  pag.  98.     Petrarch 
presumed  that  the  ruins  around  him  had  been  occasioned  by  the  mischiefs 
which  he  saw,  and  which  wure  partly  the  cause  of  dilapidation. 

*  The  distinction  is  carefully  to  be  observed.  The  words  of  Petrarch 
are:  "  Denique  post  vi  aut  senio  collapsa  pallatia,  quae  quondam  ingentes 
tenuerunt  viri,  postdiruptos  arcus  triumphales  (unde  majores  horum  for- 
sitan  corruerunt)  de  ipsius  vetustatis  ac  propriae  impietatis  fragminibu3 
vilem  questum  turpi  mercimonio  captare  non  puduit." 

See — Epistolahortatoria  ad  Nichol.Laurentium.  Trib.  P.  Q.  R.  de 
eapessenda  libertate,  pag.  536. 

"  Sed  quo  animo,  da  quaeso  misericors  Pater  temerariae  derotioni  meac 
veniam,  quo  inquam,  animo,  tu  ad  ripam  Rhodani  sub  auratis  tectorum 
laquearibus  soranium  capis,  et  Lateranum  humi  jacet  et  ecclesiarum  ma- 
ter omnium  tecto  carens,  et  ventis  patet,  ac  pluviis,  et  Petri  ac  Pauli 
sanctissiraae  domus  tremunt,  et  apostolorum  quae  nunc  sides  fuerat  jam 
ruina  est."  Petrarch  wrote  this  to  Urban  V.  who  began  his  reign  in  1352- 
Epist.  rer.  sen.  lib.  vii.  epist.  i.  opera,  pag.  815.  torn.  ii. 

f  "  Quod  templa  celeberrima,  et  sanctissima  in  Christianitate,  augusta 
ilia  monuraenta  pietatis  Constantini  Magni,  ubi  Surami  Pontifices,  cum 
insignibus  supremae  suae  dignitatas  capiunt  possessionem  Sedis  Apostolicae 
penitus  neglecta  maneant,  sine  honore,  sine  ornamentis,  sine  iiistaura- 
tione,  etomni  ex  parte  ruinas  minentur."  This  was  the  complaint  of  a 
deputation  from  the  senate  and  Roman  people  to  the  cardinals  in  1378. 
Dissertazions  «ulle  rovine,  ha-  p.  369. 


ciousthan  human  violence,  and  would  appear,  from  Petrarch* 
and  from  another  authority,!  to  have  thrown  down  some  of 
the  ancient  monuments  ;  and  an  inundation  of  the  Tiber  in 
1345  is  faithfully  recorded  amongst  the  afflictions  of  the  times. 
The  summits  of  the  hills  alone  were  above  the  water,  which 
converted  the  lower  grounds  to  a  lake  for  eight  days.| 

The  absence  of  the  popes  might  have  been  fatal  to  the  mo- 
dern city,  jind  have  reduced  it  to  a  solitude  ;§  but  such  a  soli- 
tude would  have  protected  many  a  fragment,  which  their  re- 
turn and  the  subsequent  rapid  repopulation  have  for  ever  an- 
nihilated. Their  return||  was  the  signal  of  renewed  violence. 
The  Colonna  and  Orsini,  the  people  and  the  church,  fought  for 
the  Capitol  and  towers,  and  the  fortress  of  the  popes,  the  re- 
titted  mole  of  Hadrian,  repeatedly  bombarded  the  town.** 

*  "  Cecidit  eedificiorum  vetenim  neglecta  civibus,  stupenda  peregrinis 
moles,"  says  Petrarch,  lib.  x.  epist.  2.  He  confines,  however,  his  indi- 
vidual mention — to  the  Tor  de'  Conti — to  the  fall  of  a  good  part  of  the 
church  of  St.  Paul,  and  of  the  roof  of  the  Lateran. 

"Turns  ilia  totoorbe  unica,  quae  Comitum  dicebatur,  ingentibus  ruinis 
laxata  dissiluit,  et  nunc  velut  trunca  caput  superbi  vertids  honorem  solo 
effusum  despicit,"  lib.  x.  epist.  ii.  oper. 

It  may  be  suspected  Petrarch  did  not  distinguish  exactly  between  the 
old  Roman  remains  and  the  buildings  of  the  papal  town.  The  Tor  de' 
Conti  was  built  in  1205. 

t  "In  uibe  vero  cecidit  quadam  columna  de  marmore  quse  sustinebat 
ccclesiara  Sancti  Pauli  cum  tertia  parte  vel  circa  cooperti  ipsius  ecclesiae, 
et  multa;  alia;  ecclesia;  ibi  et  sedificia  mirabiiiter  ceciderunt" 

See — Chronicon  Mutinense  auctore  Johanne  da  Bazano.  Script.  Rer. 
Italic,  tom.  xv.  pag.  Gt5. 

\  HistoriseRomanae  fragmenta,  cap.  xv.de  lo  grannissirao  diluvio  e 
plena  de  acqua  de  lu  Fiume  Tevere.  See — Antiq.  Med.  JEn  tom.  iii.  p. 
392. 

5j  "  Perche  Roma  senza  la  presenza  de'  Pontefici  e  piuttosto  simile  a 
una  solitudine  che  a  una  citta,"  says  Guicciardini,  on  the  occasion  of 
Adrian  Vlth's  entry  into  Rome.  See — Dell'  Istoria  d'  Italia,  lib.  xv.  p. 
1015.  fol. 

II  In  1378,  in  the  reign  of  Urban  VI.  the  great  schism  began. 

**  In  1404,  after  the  death  of  Boniface  IX.— also  in  1405 — and  again  in 
the  civil  war  between  Innocent  VII.  and  tlie  Romans.  "  E  in  quello  su- 
bito  lo  castello  di  Sant'  Angelo  si  ruppe  co  i  Romani  e  comminci6  a  bom- 
bardare  per  Roma."  See — Stephan.  Infessura.  Scriba  del  senato  e  po- 
polo  Romano.  Diario  dellu  citta  di  Roma,  ap.  Script.  Rer.  lUl-  tom.  iii 
p  ii.  pag.  1115. 


99 

During  the  great  schism  of  the  West,  the  hostile  entries  of 
Ladislaiis  of  Naples,*  and  the  tumultuary  government  of  the 
famous  Perugian  Braccio  Montone,!  are  known  to  have  de- 
spoiled the  tomb  of  Hadrian. |  Perhaps  they  were  fatal  to 
other  monuments. 

Yet  that  violence  Was  probably  less  pernicious  than  the 
peaceful  spoliation  which  succeeded  the  extinction  of  the 
schism  in  the  person  of  Martin  V.  in  1417,  and  the  suppres- 
sion, in  1434,  of  the  last  revolt  of  the  Romans  by  his  successor 
Eugenius  IV.  From  this  epoch  must  be  dated  the  consump- 
tion of  such  marble  or  travertine  as  might  either  be  stripped 
with  facility  from  the  stable  monuments,  or  be  found  in  iso- 
lated fragments.  A  broken  statue,  a  prostrate,  or  even  a  stand- 
ing column,  in  the  habitable  part  of  the  town,  and  the  larger 
structures  yet  remaining  in  the  vineyards,  were  considered  by 
the  owners  of  the  land,  within  and  without  the  walls,  as  their 
own  property,  and  to  be  applied  to  their  own  use.     The  re- 


*  Ladislaus  came  peaceably  into  Rotne,  on  the  1 5th  of  September, 
1404  ;  on  the  20th  of  August,  1405,  three  thousand  of  his  horse  entered 
Rome,  and  a  battle  was  fought  in  the  streets  near  the  castle.  In  April, 
1408,  Ladislaus  besieged  the  city  by  sea  and  land,  and  was  put  in  posses- 
sion of  all  the  strong  places.  The  Colonnas  and  other  banished  nobles 
attacked  the  town  in  June.  The  Duke  of  Anjou  and  Paul  Orsiii,  with 
23,000  troops,  endeavoured,  in  1408,  to  expel  Ladislaus,  but  retired.  Or- 
sini,  however,  returned  in  December,  and  Ladislaus  was  driven  out.  In 
1413  Ladislaus  returprd,  broke  down  the  walls  at  the  gate  of  the  Lateran, 
and  got  possession  of  the  city  and  castle.  He  died  in  1414 :  his  title  was, 
"  hujus  almae  Urbis  Illuminator  illustris."  Fieri,  in  his  diary,  relating  his 
death,  says,  "  Cujus  anima  benedicatur  per  contrarium."  See — Vendet- 
tini  serie  cronologica  de'  Senatori  di  Roma,  p.  75.  edit.  Roma,  1778. 

I  The  exploits  of  Braccio  di  Montone  are  contained  in  six  books,  a  bi- 
ography written  by  John  Antony  Campano,  bishop  of  Temi.  He  flou- 
rished from  13C8  to  1424.  See— Script.  Rer.  Ital.  tom.  xix.  In  1417,  he 
entered  Rome  with  his  troops,  and  attacked  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo, 
which  was  in  possession  of  the  queen  of  Naples,  Joanna,  and  was  obliged 
to  retreat.  (Ibid.  pag.  545.)  He  was  captain  of  the  people  for  seventy 
days,  and  when  forced  to  retire,  out  of  spite  to  the  Romans,  broke  the 
banks  of  the  lake  Pedelupo,  pie"  di  Lup,  in  the  Reatine  territory,  which 
caused  a  tremendous  inundation  of  the  Tiber,  in  1422.  According  to 
Step.  Infessura,  Diar.  Uc.  p.  1 122.  loc  citat.  Braccio  Was  killed  in  battle  OB 
the  2d  of  June,  1424. 

I  See— a  note  on  the  Castle  of  St.  Angelo. 

13 


^  100 

pairs  commenced  by  Martin  V.,  and  carried  on  more  vigor- 
o\is\y  by  Eugenius,*  required  a  supply  of  materials,  and  of  ce- 
ment, which  was  obtained  from  the  ruins. 

The  triumph  of  supcistition  conspired  with  the  ignorance 
and  individual  necessities  of  the  Romans,  to  render  them  more 
indifferent  to  the  relics  of  pagan  antiquity.  Whatever  nationali- 
ly  and  patriotism  they  had  evinced  in  the  times  of  turbulence, 
were  degraded  into  a  blind  veneration  for  the  shrines  of  the 
apostles,  and  for  the  person  of  their  successor.  A  secretary 
of  the  Popes,  an  antiquary,  and  one  who  may  be  surely  cited 
as  a  favourable  specimen  of  the  better  class  of  citizens,  mo- 
destly confesses,  that  there  was  some  difference  between  the 
Rome  of  Eugenius  IV.  and  that  of  Pompey  and  the  first  Cae- 
sars. "  jit  the  same  time,'*''  says  he,  "  our  Pontlfcx  is  indeed  a 
jjerpetual  dictator,  not  the  successor  of  Ccesar,  but  the  successor 
of  the  fisherman  Peter,  and  the  vicar  of  the  Emperor  Jesus 
Christ.]  Besides,''''  he  adds,  "  there  are  still  at  Rome  most 
high  and  admirable  objects  which  can  be  seen  no  where  else. 
For  this  very  city  has  the  threshold  of  the  apostles  and  the  earth 
purple  with  the  blood  of  the  martyrs.  It  has  the  handkerchief 
of  St.  Veronica  /  it  has  the  place  called  '  Domine  quo  vadis,' 
where  Christ  met  St.  Peter,  and  left  the  marks  of  his  feet  in  the 
stone.  It  has  the  heads  of  Peter  and  Paul,  the  milk  of  the 
Virgin,  the  cradle  and  foreskin  of  our  Saviour,\  the  chains  of 

*  "  Sed  collapaa  defArmaf^qMP.  fiilifiria  miiltis  ip  locis  maximo  instauras 
reficisque  impendlo"  Prsefatio  ad  Eugenium  IV.  Pont.  Max.  Flavii 
Blondii-  Roma  instaurata,  edit  Taur.  1527. 

t  Flavii  Blondi.  Roma  Instaurata.  "Dictatorem  nunc  perpetuum,  nou 
Csesaris  sed  Piscatoris  Petri  successorem  et  Imperatoris  prsedicti  Vica- 
rium  Pontificem,  &.c."     Lib.  iii.  fo.  41.  edit.  Taurin.  1527. 

I  This  relic  was  shamefully  neglected  whilst  the  popes  were  at  Avig- 
non. At  last  the  Virgin  appeared  to  St.  Brigith,  exclaiming,  "  O  Roma, 
Roma,  si  scires,  gauderes  utique,  immo  si  scires  fleres  incessanter,  quia 
habes  thesaurum  mihi  carissimum,  et  non  honoras  ilium."  "  E  forse,** 
says  iMarangoni,  writing  in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  !  "  che  la 
madre  di  Dio  stessa  indirizz5  questo  lamento  agli  ultimi  secoli,  e  special- 
mente  alio  scorso  XVI.  nel  quale,  essendo  quasi  che  spenta  la  venerazione, 
e  memoria  di  questa  Divina  Reliquia  in  Roma,  questa  Citta  ricevette  il 
•astigo  di  esserne  privata."  The  relic  was  stolen  by  one  of  the  heretics 
and  loose  livers  of  Bourbon's  army,  forse  il  piu  ardito  e  facinoroso  degli 
joltri,  but  was  found  in  an  underground  cell  at  Calcata,  20  mile*  from 


101 

St.  Peter,  tite  spousal  ring  sent  from  heaveilto  the  maiden  Agnes . 
To  see,  to  touch,  to  venerate  all  which  and  many  more  thinga, 
more  than  fifty  thousand  strangers  from  all  parts  of  the  world 
come  to  Rome  in  the  time  of  Lent.^^ 

These  relics  certainly  may  have  preserved  the  existence  of 
Rome,  but  were  no  protection  to  her  ancient  structures.  The 
same  writer  notices  the  daily  destruction  of  monuments,  whicli 
he  avers  to  be  so  visible  as  to  make  him  loathe  the  abode  at 
tlome.*  The  fatal  lime  burning  awakened  the  indignation  of 
a  poett  to  whom  it  appeared  a  new  offence,  and  the  testimo- 
ny of  Blondus  and  iEncas  Sylvius  shows  that  there  was  some 
ground  for  the  exaggeration  of  the  angry  Florentine,  who  hav- 
ing witnessed  the  destruction  of  some  monuments,  wonders 
that  any  remnant  of  antiquity  should  have  escaped  the  fury 
and  cupidity  of  the  Romans.l 

Of  republican  Rome,  Poggio  reckoned  the  double  row  of 
vaults  in  the  Capitol,  constructed  by  Catulus,  then  converted 
into  a  public  magazine  for  salt ;  the  Sepulchre  of  Publicius  ; 
the  Fabrician  bridge  over  the  Tiber ;  an  arch,  over  the  road 
beneath  the  Aventine  mount,  made  and  approved  by  P.  Len- 
tulus  Scipio  and  Titus  Quintius  Crispinus ;  the  monuments 

Rome,  by  a  noble  lady,  Maddelena  Strozzi,  after  Pope  Clement  VII.  had 
in  vain  given  every  order  to  recover  it.  The  discovery  was  attended  with 
repeated  miracles,  of  all  which  an  authentic  account  may  be  seen  in  the 
Istoria  delta  Capella  di  sancta  sanctorum  di  Roma,  cap.  xxxix.  edit.  1747 
by  the  famous  Marangoni,  the  author  of  the  JVfemoir  on  the  Coliseum. 

*  "  Cujus  rei  tanta  singulos  dies  videmus  exempla  ut  ea  solum  mode 
causa  nos  aliquantum  Romfe  fastidiat  habitatio.  Multis  enim  in  locis  vi» 
iieas  videmus  ubi  superbissima  aedificia  vidimus  quorum  quadrat]  lapidcs 
t<burtini  in  calcem  sunt  cocti.     Lib.  iii.  fol.  S3. 

f  Oblectat  me,  Roma,  tuas  spectare  ruinas, 
Ex  cujus  lapsu  gloria  prisca  patet- 
Sed  tuus  hie  populus  muris  defossa  vetustis 

Calcisin  obsequlum  marmora  dura  coquit 
Irapia  tercentum  si  sic  gens  egerit  annos, 
Nullum  hinc  indicium  nobilitatis  erit. 
3Iabillon.  Mus.  Italic,  p.  95.  tom.  i.  written  by  Picolomini  to  Bartholo^ 
laeus  Roverella. 

X  "  Quas  esepe  miror  insaniam  demolientium  efFugisse."  He  is  talking 
of  two  arches  in  the  Flaminian  way.  De  Fortuose  varietate,  &§.  ap.  Sal- 
lengre,  toiji-  i-  p.  500. 


102 

called  the  Trophies  "tjf  Marius,  (they  belong  to  the  time  of 
Trajan) ;  and  the  Cestian  Pyramid  (which  is  hardly  of  the 
time  of  the  republic). 

Of  Imperial  Rome  nothing  was  entire  but  the  Pantheon. 
The  fragments  were,  three  arches,  and  one  column  of  the 
Temple  of  Peace  ;  the  Temple  of  Romulus,    dedicated   to 
Cosmas  and  Damianus  ;  a  few  vestiges  of  the  double  Temple 
of  Castor  and  Pollux,  at  Sta.  Maria  Nuova ;  the  marble  co- 
lumns of  the  Portico  of  Antoninus  and  Faustina ;  the  peripteral 
Temple  of  Vesia  on  the  Tiber ;  a  portion  of  the  Temple  of 
Minerva ;  a  part  of  the  portico  of  the  Temple  of  Concord ; 
the  Temple  of  Saturn,  or  church  of  St.  Hadrian  ;  a  portico  of 
the  Temple  of  Mercury  at  the  Pescaria ;  a  Temple  of  Apollo 
converted  into  a  part  of  St.  Peter's  :  a  very  ancient  temple  of 
a  single  vault  at  the  roots  of  the  Tarpeian,  called  the  church 
of  St.  Michael,  m  Statcra,  falsely  supposed  of  Jupiter  Stator ; 
the  Baths  of  Diocletian  and  Severus  Antoninus  still  so  called, 
most  perfect,  with  many  columns  and  marbles  ;  the  smaller  re- 
mains of  the  Constantine  Baths  in  the  Quirinal ;  the  Baths  of 
Alexander  Severus  near  the  Pantheon,  (pulchra  et  praeclara 
vestigia ;)  the  Domitian   Thermae,  (perpauca  rudera)  which 
were  the  Baths  of  Titus  ;  the  Arches  of  Severus,  of  Titus,  of 
Constantine,  almost  entire ;  a  part  of  one  of  Nerva ;  a  part 
of  one  of  Trajan,  near  what  he  calls  the  Comitium  ;  two  in 
the  Flaminian  way,  one  called  Triopolis  (the  Arcus  Portogalli 
or  Tres  Facicellae),  the  other  without  a  name  ;  another  Arch 
of  Gallienus  in  the  Via  Numentana  ;*  one  alone  of  all  the 
nine  aqueducts  (fourteen  he  should  have  said)  entire  ;  this  was 
the  Acqua  Virgo,  (and  had  been  repaired) ;  the  Coliseum,  the 
greater  part  of  it  destroyed  for  lime  ;  a  portion  of  a  theatre 
called  of  Julius  Caesar  between  the  Tarpeian  and  the   Tiber, 
together  with  many  marble  columns  opposite  to  it;  part  of  a 
portico  of  a  round  temple,  built  upon,  with  gardens  within, 
called  of  Jupiter  (this  seems  the  Theatre  of  Marcellus) ;  an 
amphitheatre  of  square  brick  near  Sante  Croce  in  Gerusa- 

*  Mr.  Gibbon,  cap.  Ixxi-  p.  398.  vol.  12,  has  made  a  careless  blunder 
for  the  sake  of  a  period,  by  putting  this  in  the  Flaminian  way ;  the  words 

are  positive,  "  Duo  insuper  vii  Flamiaia -est  niter  prajterea  Gallieno 

Priacipi  dicatus  ut  suprascriptio  indicat  Via  Atinientona." 


103 

lemme,  mixed  with  the  city  wall  ;*  a  large  open  place  where 
the  people  met  ad  venationem  et  spectaculum  caWed  agonis,^  the 
Mole  DivcR  Adriani  el  DivcB  Famtince,  in  great  part  destroyed 
by  the  Romans  ;  the  Sepulchre  of  Augustus,  a  mound  with  a 
vineyard  in  the  inside ;  the  column  of  Trajan  with  the  in- 
scription ;  the  column  of  Antoninus  Pius  (Aurelius)  without  the 
inscription ;  the  Sepulchre  of  Cecilia  Metella,  the  greater  part 
destroyed  for  lime;  the  Sepulchre  of  Marcus  Antius  Lupus,  two 
miles  in  the  Ostian  way,  composed  of  three  large  stones  with 
an  inscription.  J 

In  the  interval  between  the  two  visits  of  Poggio  to  Rome, 
the  cell  and  a  part  of  the  Temple  of  Concord,  and  of  the  base 
of  the  Tomb  of  Metella,  had  been  ground  to  lime.  A  portico 
near  the  Minerva  was  also  demolished  for  the  same  purpose. 
The  Romans  had  discovered  that  mortar  made  with  white,  and 
more  particularly  oriental  marble,  was  more  serviceable  than 

*  Mr.  Gibbon,  equally  careless  as  before,  says,  "  After  the  wonder  of 
the  Coliseum,  Poggio  might  have  overlooked  a  smaJl  amphitheatre  of 
brick  most  probably  for  the  use  of  the  Praetorian  carrjp  ;"  but  he  did  not 
overlook  it ;  here  it  is. 

t  Which  ,Mr.  Gibbon  unaccountably  also  reckons  amongst  the  objects 
wot  seen  by  Poggio,  together  with  the  Theatres  of  Marcellus  and  Pom- 
pey,  and  the  Circus  Maximus,  whose  remains  it  is  true  he  does  not  men- 
tion, and  therefore  prevents  us  from  saving  his  credit  by  thinking  the 
phrase  he  might  have  overlooked  capable  of  a  double  construction ;  our 
historian  evidently  meant  he  had  overloeked  them. 

t  No  more  is  found  in  the  treatise  as  published  in  Sallcngre,  tom.  i.  p. 
501  to  508.  Mr.  Gibbon  consulted  the  quarto  edition  published  in  Paris 
1723  ;  but  the  strangest  contradiction  has  crfipt  into  his  text.  In  cap.  Ixxi. 
he  opens  thus  :  "  In  the  last  days  of  Pope  Eugenius  IV.  two  of  his  sei-- 
vants,  the  learned  Poggiiis  and  a  friend,  ascended  the  Capitoline  hill :" 
the  note  to  this  runs  thus  :  "  I  have  already  (note  50,  51  in  chap.  Ixv.) 
mentioned  the  age,  character,  and  writings  of  Poggius,  and  particularly 
noticed  the  date  of  this  elegant  moral  lecture  on  the  varieties  of  Fortune." 
Turn  to  the  cited  note  51,  cap.  Ixv.  p.  S3,  tom.  xii.  oct.  "  The  dialogue 
de  varietate  Fortunce  was  composed  a  short  time  before  the  death  of  Pope. 
Martin  V.  and  consequently  about  the  end  of  the  year  1430."  How  are 
the  two  to  be  reconciled  ?  In  fact  Poggio  himself  says,  "  Nuper  cum 
Pontifex  Martinus  paulo  antequam  diem!  suum  obiret,  aburbe  in  agrum 
Tusculj^um  secessit  valetudinis  causa,"  &c,  fee. 


104 

tliat  of  common  stone.*  The  other  scattered  reUcs,  partica- 
larly  the  columns  strewed  about  the  quarter  between  the  Tar- 
peian  rock  and  the  Tiber,  must  have  quickly  disappeared  in 
the  subsequent  reform  and  decorations  of  the  new  capital. 
Poggio's  description  of  the  ruins  is,  it  may  have  been  observ- 
ed, not  sufficiently  minute  or  correct  to  supply  the  deficiency 
of  his  cotemporary  Blondus  ;  but  we  may  distinctly  mark  that 
the  site  of  ancient  Rome  had  arrived  at  the  desolation  in 
which  it  is  seen  at  this  day.  The  labours  of  succeeding  topo- 
graphers have  enabled  us'to  account  for  the  loss  of  the  monu- 
ments which  he  enumerates,  and  which  are  no  longer  to  be 
«een.  The  fabrication  of  churches  and  other  buildings  was 
continued  with  so  pernicious  an  activity  during  the  reign  of 
Nicholas  V.  (elected  in  1 447)  the  modem  Augustus,  that  Pius 
II.  enforced  the  complaints  which  he  had  uttered  as  a  poet  by 
issuing  a  bull  in  1462  de  Antiquis  adificiis  non  diruendis.] 
This  prudence  was  but  a  feeble  check  against  the  renewed 
demand  for  materials  which  ensued  upon  the  total  reform  of 
the  city  by  Sixtus  IV.  in  1480.  The  Rome  of  the  Republic 
had  soon  been  lost,  the  capital  of  the  early  Caesars  had  been 
afterwards  abandoned.  But  isolated  structures  of  the  latter 
city  were  found  not  only  in  the  ancient  site  but  in  the  Campus 
Martius.  The  Rome  of  the  lower  and  middle  ages  was  a  mass 
of  irregular  lanes,  built  upon  or  amongst  ruins,  and  surmount- 
ed by  brick  towers,  many  of  them  propped  on  ancient  base- 
ments. The  streets  were  as  narrow  as  those  of  Pompeii  or 
old  Rome  ;%  two  horsemen  could  with  difficulty  ride  abreast. 
Two  hundred  houses,  three  towers,  and  three  churches  choked 
up  the   Forum  of  Trajan.  §     The  reformation  of  Sixtus  IV. 

*  Some  years  back  some  kilns  were  discovered  near  Ostia   full  of 
broken  marbles.    Dissertazione  sulle  rorine,  p.  S74.  note  a.    "  Essendosi 
provato  colla  esperienza  cbe  la  calce  fattacol  marmo  bianco  e  coll'  orien- 
tale  in  ispecie  era  maravigliosa."     Ibid. 
f  Dissertazione,  p.  873. 

X  Vicinus  meus  est  manuque  tangi 
De  nostris  Norius  potest  fenestris. 

Mart.  lib.  i.  epig.  77. 
Does  this  mean  contiguous  or  opposite  ? 

^  They  were  removed  by  Paul  III.  «n  the  oecasion  of  Charles  V.'s 
entry  into  Rome  in  1536,  April  5. 


JOS 

and  the  embellishments  of  hig  successors,  hare  complete!/ 
obliterated  this  town,*  and  that  which  we  now  see  is  a  capital 
which  can  only  date  from  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

This  reformation  has  been  justly  fixed  upon  as  the  epoch 
of  the  final  destruction  of  whatever  portion  of  the  old  city 
might  have  been  confounded  with  the  Rome  of  the  middle 
ages.  The  enlargement  and  the  straightening  of  the  streets 
removed  every  obstacle,  and  must  have  consumed  the  bases 
of  many  ancient  structures  which  had  been  buried  under  mo- 
dern fabrics,  and  had  escaped  the  notice  of  Blondus  and  Poggio. 
The  practice  before  remarked  continued  during  the  succeed- 
ing pontificate  of  Julius  II. :  statues  and  marbles  were  still 
burnt  for  hme,  and  the  antiquarian  taste  which  arose  with 
the  revival  of  letters  despoiled  rather  than  protected  the 
fabrics  of  Rome.  Paradoxical  as  such  an  assertion  may  ap- 
pear, it  is  indubitable  that  in  the  golden  reign  of  Leo  X.  the 
barbarism  of  defacement  and  destruction  was  at  its  height. 
It  was  during  the  pontificate  of  another  of  the  Medici,  Cle- 
ment VII.  that  one  of  the  same  family,  Lorenzino,  carried 

*  The  origin  of  this  reform  is  attributed  by  Infcssura  in  his  dairy  (toiu. 
iii.  par.ii.  p.  1145.  Script  Rer.  Italic.)  to  Ferdinand  of  Naples.  "  E  par- 
lando  con  Papa  Sisto  disse,  che  esso  non  era  Signore  di  questa  terra,  per 
amore  de  i  Porticali,  per  le  vie  strette,  e  per  li  mignani,  e  che  bisognando 
di  metlere  in  Roma  gente  d'arme  le  donne  coi  mortarida  i  detti  noignani 
li  fariano  fuggire."  The  motive  was  as  irresistible  as  the  improvement 
was  desirable,  and  Sixtus  FV.  followed  the  advice  of  Ferdinand.  The 
Abate  Fea  (dissert.  372)  to  prove  that  the  plan  originated  with  Sixtut 
hiaiself,  says  that  the  Pope  makes  no  mention  in  his  bull  of  having  re- 
ceived the  hint  from  any  one.  Nor  does  the  Abate  tell  us  that  he  bor- 
rowed his  Greek  knowledge  from  the  Latin  translations,  nor  does  that 
omission  make  us  attach  less  value  to  his  excellent  dissertation  on  the 
ruins  of  Rome.  The  writer  of  this  note  will  be  more  ingenuous  than 
either  Sixtus  or  the  Abate  ;  he  will  confess  that  the  dissertation  has  been 
constantly  open  before  him  during  the  progress  of  his  researches,  and 
that  after  disencumbering  it  of  its  learning,  and  arriving  in  many  cases  at 
conclusions  entirely  different,  he  has  resorted  to  it  freely,  though  never 
without  acknowledgment,  for  such  materials  as  could  not  be  consulted 
without  a  reference  to  the  Roman  libraries.  A  character  of  the  Abate, 
which  it  is  clear  has  been  very  indiscreetly  inserted  in  the  posthumous 
edition  of  the  Remarks  on  Italy,  Mr.  Forsyth  never  could  hav«  intended 
fdr  publication. 


106 

dff  the  heads  of  the  captives  on  the  Arch  of  Constantine. 
The  spohation  was  only  impeded  by  the  plague  of  1522,  and 
by  the  distresses  of  the  reign  of  the  same  Clement. 

The  sack  of  Rome  by  the  troops  of  Charles  V.  has  been 
loudly  proclaimed*  more  detrimental  than  that  of  the  Goths. 
The  complaint,  however,  comes  from  those  who  thought  no 
hyperbole  too  extravagant  to  heighten  the  picture  of  that  ca- 
lamity. The  churches  and  palaces  were  pillaged,!  and  the 
chambers  of  the  Vatican,  the  frescoes  of  Raphael,  still  bear 
witness  to  the  barbarity  of  the  Spanish,  German,  and  Italian 
invaders.  "  Statues,  columns,  precious  stones,  and  many 
monuments  of  antiquity,"  are  noted  amongst  the  spoil  ;J  but 
no  memory  is  preserved  of  the  attack  of  the  standing  fabrics, 
except  of  the  Mole  of  Hadrian,  already  a  modern  fortress. 
The  nine  months  ravage  of  the  Imperialists§  was  preceded  by 
the  three  hours  sack  of  the  Colonnas,||  in  1526,  and  was  fol- 
lowed by  that  of  the  Abate  di  Farfa  and  the  peasantry  of  the 
Orsini  family.     In  1 530,  a  tremendous  inundation  of  the  Ti- 

*  Da  Barga  says,  "  Atque  utinam  qui  nostra  aetate  eandem  urbem 
bostes  ab  se  expugnatam  depopulati  sunt,  hujusmodi  exemplum  sibi  ante 
Gculos  possuissent."    De  sedificior.  urb.  Rom.  eversor  p.  1816.  loc  citat. 

f  "  Pero  sarebbe  impossibile  non  solo  narrare,  ma  quasi  imaginarsi  le 
calamita  di  quella  citti,  destinata  per  ordine  de'  cieli  a  sorama  grandezza, 
ma  eziandio  a  spesse  distruttioni ;  percbe  era  I'anno  novo  cento  e  ottanta, 
cU'era  stata  saccheggiata  da'  Gotti ;  impossibile  a  narrare  la  grandeeza 
della  preda  essendovi  accumulate  tante  richezze,  e  tante  cose  pretiose  e 
rare  di  cortigiani  e  di  mercatanti"  Guicciard.  delP  Istoria  d'ltalia,  lib. 
xvjii.p.  1266.  edit.  Ven.  1738. 

•'  Non  avendo  rispetto  non  solo  al  nome  de  gli  amici,  e  all'  autorita,  e 
<lignita  de'  prelati,  ma  eziandio  a'  templi  a'  monasterii,  alle  reliquie,  mi- 
rate  dal  concorso  di  tutto  il  mondo  e  delle  cose  sacre."    lb.  p.  1265. 

I  "  Rest6  Roma  spogliata  dell'  esercito  non  solo  d'una  parte  grande  de 
gli  abitatori  con  tante  case  desolate,  e  distrutte,  ma  eziandio  spogliata  di 
statue,  di  colonne,  di  pietre  singular],  e  di  moiti  ornamenti  d'  antichita," 
Ibid  pp.  1S02, 1303. 

5n  Rome  was  assaulted  by  Bourbon,  the  5th  of  May,  1527,  and  the 
Imperialists  left  it  the  17th  of  February,  1528.    Guicciard.  p.  1302. 

II  "  Saccheggiavano  il  palazzo,  e  le  cose  e  ornamenti  sacri  della  chiesa 
di  San  Pietro  :  non  avendo  maggiore  rispetto  alia  maest^  di  religione  e 
air  orrore  del  sacrilegio,  che  avessino  avuto  i  Turchi  nelle  chiese  del 
iigno  d'Ungheria."    Lib.  xvii.  p-  1518' 


107 

ber  is  said  to  have  ruined  edifices  both  public  and  private,  and 
to  have  been  equally  calamitous  with  the  sack  of  Rome.* 
Yet  these  disasters  seem  chiefly  to  have  affected  the  houses 
and  a  few  churches,  and  were  soon  repaired  in  the  splendid 
pontificate  of  the  succeeding  Popes.  So  rapidly  did  they 
proceed  with  the  embellishment  of  the  new  capital,  that  the 
city  of  Paul  III.  was  hardly  to  be  recognised  in  the  time  of 
Urban  VIII. t  The  former  destruction  was  renewed.  The 
bull  of  Paul  III.  issued  in  1534,  which  made  it  a  capital  and 
unpardonable  offence  to  grind  downj  statues  or  pieces  of  mar- 
ble, and  appointed  an  antiquarian  commissary  to  enforce  the 
law,  extended  nominally  to  the  architectural  remains  ;  yet  we 
know  that  portions  of  the  ruins  were  employed  in  modern 
buildings  by  that  Pope  himself,  and  were  afterwards  consumed 
for  the  same  purpose.  The  Farnese,  the  Mattei,  the  Bor- 
ghese,  and  the  Barberini,  searched  for  and  collected  the  sta- 
tues§  and  inscribed  marbles,  to  adorn  their  museums ;  but 
their  palaces  either  levelled  or  consumed  many  fragments 
which  could  not  be  preserved  as  the  walls  of  modern  buildings. 
The  stupendous  vaults  of  the  Diocletian  thcrma?  were  con- 
verted into  churches, II  the  walls  of  those  of  Constantine  were 
adjusted  into  the  Rospigliosi  palace.**  The  Alexandrine 
thermae  supplied  with  columns  the  repairs  of  the  Pantheon. tt 

*  Annali  d'  Italia  ad  an.  1530,  torn.  x.  p.  242-  There  was  another  ter- 
rible inundation  in  1557,  and  another  still  more  dreadful  in  1598. 

t  It  is  Donatus  who  says,  that  if  Charles  V.  were  to  come  back  to 
Rome  in  Urban  VIJI-'s  time,  he  would  not  recognise  the  city  .which  he 
had  seen  from  the  top  of  the  Pantheon.    Roma  Vetus,  lib-  i-  cap.  xxix. 

\  Dissertazione  suile  rovine,  p.  375.  The  edict  is  there  given,  addres»- 
cd  to  the  commissary  Lucio  Manetti. 

^  There  were  a  great  many  portable  antiquities  dispersed  in  the  time 
of  Fabricius  (1550):  has  reliefs  and  other  pieces  of  sculpture,  scattered 
about  in  various  parts  of  the,  city,  and  exposed  to  injury.  Yet  there  w  ere 
five  antiquarian  museums  then  in  Rome.  Descriptio  Romse,  cap.  xx.  and 
xxi.  ap.  Graev.  Antiq.  torn.  iii. 

II  S.  Maria  degli  Angioli,  by  Pius  IV.  who  employed  M-  Angrlo  ;  and 
S.  Bernardo  alle  terme,  changed  into  a  church  by  a  private  individual, 
Catherine  Sforza,  Countess  of  S.  Fiora,  in  1590. 

**  Great  remains  of  the  Baths  of  Constantine  were  seen  in  the  age 
before  Donatus.    Lib.  iii.  cap.  xv. 

ft  By  Alexander  VII. 

14 


108 

.A  circus  was  gradually  cleared  away  for  the  opening  of  the 
piazza  Navona.  The  summer-house  of  the  Farnese  rose 
from  the  ruins  of  the  Palatine.  The  marhle  threshold  and 
broken  columns  from  which  Poggio*  had  contemplated  the 
vicissitudes  of  fortune,  were  removed,  and  probably  employ- 
ed in  the  construction  of  the  new  capitol  of  Michael  Angelo. 
The  marble  of  a  temple  on  the  Quirinal  was  cut  into  the  124 
steps  which  ascend  to  the  church  of  Aracasli.t  We  have 
before  noticed  the  destruction  of  ancient  monuments  by  the 
Popes,  and  it  is  equally  evident  that  the  Pontiffs  were,  on  the 
restoration  of  Rome,  powerfully  seconded  by  the  luxury  and 
taste  of  the  prelates  and  princes.  Flaminius  Vaccaj  leads 
us  to  believe,  that  in  his  time,  the  latter  half  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  it  was  usual  for  the  sculptors  to  cut  their  statues  from 
columns ;  and  he  narrates,  that  Cardinal  Cesi  fitted  up  a 
chapel  in  Santa  Maria  della  Pace,  with  statues  and  prophets 
worked  from  the  pilasters  found  behind  the  conservators'  pa- 
lace on  the  Tarpeian  rock,  and  believed  to  be  a  part  of  the 
Temple  of  Jupiter  Stator.  The  great  palace  of  the  Cancel- 
laria  of  Riario§  had  before  robbed  a  part  of  the  Coliseum, 
and  levelled  some  remains  of  baths,  or  of  an  arch  of  the 
Emperor  Gordian.  The  infinite  quantity  of  precious  mar- 
bles which  adorns  the  churches  of  Rome,  must  have  been 
chiefly  extracted  from  the  ancient  relics ;  and,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  those  belonging  to  edifices  converted  to  sacred 
purposes,  or  to  pontifical  buildings,  the  greater  part  of  the 
superb  columns  of  these  churches  must  have  been  removed 
from  their  ancient  site.  We  are  obliged  to  the  designs  of 
Raffaei  and  Palladio  for  the  appearance  of  some  fabrics  now 
destroyed ;  and  those  who  peruse  the  topographers  from 
Blondus  to  Nardini  will  assign  to  the  latter  half  of  the  fif- 

*  *'  Consedimus  in  ipsis  Tarpejse  arcis  ruiiiis,  pone  ingens  portae  cujus- 
dain  marmoreum  limen,  plurimasque  passim  confractas  columnas.". . . 
de  Fortunae  Variet.  Ap.  501.  loc.  citat. 

t  By  giift  of  Otto  the,  Milanese,  Senator  of  Rome.  This  was  at  an 
earlier  period,  about  1348. 

X  Memorie,  num.  64,  p.  xi.  in  fin.     Nardini. 

5^  It  was  begun  by  Cardinal  Mezzarota,  and  finished  by  Cardinal  Ra- 
phael Riario.  The  architect  n  as  Bramante  Lazzari.  Roma  moderna, 
da  Venuti,  &,c.  torn.  i.  p.  203.  Rione  vi. 


109 

teenth  century,  and  the  succeeding  150  years,  a  greater  ac- 
tivity of  destruction  than  to  those  immediately  preceding 
ages,  in  which  we  have  no  authentic  writers  to  tell  us  what 
was  left,  or  what  was  lost. 

Besides  the  devastation  before  noticed,  it  may  be  remark- 
ed, that  Donatus  gives  an  account  of  remains  of  Therms 
Olympiadis,  Therm(B  JN'ovatiancR,  on  the  Viminal  hill  ;*  that 
the  same  topographer  saw  something  of  the  Thermae  of 
Agrippa,  and  also  of  those  of  Nero  or  Alexander;  that  the 
fragment  of  a  temple,  supposed  of  the  Sun,  built  by  Aurelian, 
now  in  the  Colonna  gardens,  was  then  raised  upon  a  portion 
of  the  wall  of  that  building ;  that  Marlianus  had  seen  the  arch 
dedicated  to  Gratian,  Valentinian  and  Theodosius ;  that  the 
circus  called  Flaminius  had  very  determinable  vestiges  when 
seen  by  Laetus,  Fulvius,  and  Marlianus,  but  is  talked  of  by 
Nardini  as  no  longer  in  existence  ;  that  the  same  writers  had 
observed  many  more  relics  of  the  Theatre  of  Pompey  than 
could  be  traced  in  the  next  age,  although  they  were  so  small, 
even  before  their  time,  as  to  be  overlooked  by  Poggio ;  that 
a  huge  fragment  behind  the  Pantheon,  called  by  some  Tem- 
plum  Boni  Eventus,  has  disappeared  since  Nardini  wrote  ;  that 
the  remains  of  the  Minervium,  distinctly  seen  by  Fulvius  and 
Marlianus,  and  not  altogether  lost  in  the  middle  of  the  lasf 
century,!  are  also  consumed  ;  that  the  vaulted  cell  of  a  struc- 
ture in  the  Vatican,  called  a  temple  of  Apollo,  or  of  Mars,  and 
seen  in  the  pictures  of  the  Vatican  library,  has  been  incorpo- 
rated or  lost  in  the  baptistry  of  St.  Peter's. 

The  embellishment  of  the  rising  city  vigorously  pursued  till 
the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  was  the  first  object  of 
the  Pontiffs :  the  preservation  of  the  architectural  remains 
appears  to  have  been  a  rare  and  secondary  design.  When  that 
embellishment  had  ceased  to  be  the  passion  of  the  Popes,  the 
dilapidation  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  discontinued. 
The  last  recorded  destruction  was  that  before  mentioned  of  the 
arch  in  the  Corso,  by  Alexander  VII.  No  other  ancient  fa- 
bric can  perhaps  be  proved  to  have  been  purposely  thrown 


*  Lib  iii.  cap-  xi. 
t  See — ^Venuti  Roma  Moderna,  torn.  i.  p.  272,  Rione  ix. 


no 

down  or  defaced  since  that  period.  A  fragment  of  tlie  Coli- 
seum, which  was  sliaken  to  the  ground  in  the  earthquake  of 
1 703,  was  laudably  employed  in  constructing  the  stairs  of  the 
llipetta. 

The  frequent  repairs  of  the  Pantheon,  those  of  the  Anto- 
nine  and  Trajan  columns,  the  erection  of  the  obelisks,  the  re- 
storation of  the  Cestian  pyramid,  and  the  late  protection  of 
the  Flavian  amphitheatre,  with  that  of  the  arch  of  Constan- 
tine,*  seem  to  compose  the  sum  of  all  the  merits  of  all  the 
Popes,  as  far  as  respects  the  stable  fabrics  of  antiquity.  The 
Romans  of  the  present  day  are  not  the  last  to  allow,  that  until 
the  late  usurpation,  either  the  will,  or  the  means,  or  the  me- 
thod, had  been  wanting  effectually  to  oppose  the  ravages  of 
violence  and  time.  The  taste  and  magnificence  of  the  Popes 
must  be  sought,  and  will  be  found,  in  the  museums  of  the  Va- 
tican and  the  Capitol.  It  was  reserved  for  the  conquerors 
who  plundered  those  noble  repositories  to  recompense  Rome 
for  her  losses,  by  clearing  away  the  offals  and  dirt,  which  had 
accumulated  for  ages  round  buried  temples,  and  under  the 
windows  of  the  Senate  House,  by  cleansing  the  base,  and  prop- 
ping the  porches  of  the  Coliseum,  by  removing  the  soil  in 
front  of  the  Temple  of  Peace,  by  re-opening  the  Baths  of  Ti- 
tus, and,  finally,  by  excavating  the  Forum  of  Trajan,  a  work 
of  itself  superior  to  all  the  meritorious  exertions  of  Sixtus 
Quintus  and  Braschi.  The  impulse  given  by  the  late  ephe- 
meral government  still  continues  the  labours  in  the  Forum, 
and  the  repairs  of  the  Coliseum ;  and  the  attention  of  the 
Pontiffs  being  at  last  directed  to  the  preservation  of  relics, 
which  have  succeeded  to  the  attraction  once  possessed  by 
their  spiritual  treasures,  it  may  be  hoped  that  the  ruins  of 
Rome  have  no  more  to  dread  from  outrage  or  neglect.  The 
inundations  of  the  Tiber  have  of  late  years  been  either  less 
violent,  or  are  more  easily  reduced,  than  in  the  days  of  igno- 

*  In  17S3,  by  Clement  XII.  to  whom,  in  the  interior  of  the  wall,  sunk 
round  the  arch,  is  the  following  inscription.  Clement  XII.  Pont.  Max. 
«jUod  arcum  Imp.  Constantino  Magao  erectum,  ob  relatam  salutari  cru- 
cis  signo  victoriam,  jam  temporum  injuriis  fatiscentem  veteribus  redditis 
ornamentis  restituerit.  Anno  D- 1733.  Pont  iii.  S.  P.  Q.  R.  Optimo 
Principi  ac  pristinaj  majestatis  urbis  adsertori.  Pos. — ^The  senate  and 
peiDpic  took  care  to  record  their  credulity  as  well  as  their  gratitude. 


Ill 

ranee  and  distress.*  With  the  exception  of  the  cell  of  the 
temple,  now  called  Minerva  Medica,  which  was  thrown  down 
in  1812,  no  earthquake  has,  since  the  beginning  of  the  last 
century,  materially  injured  the  ancient  fabrics.  What  re- 
mains of  them  so  nearly  resembles  the  earliest  authentic  ac- 
count of  the  ruins,  that  we  may  indulge  a  persuasion  that  they 
will  still  resist  for  ages  the  unassisted  assaults  of  time. 

Stanza  LXXIX. 
The  Scipios'  tomb  contains  no  ashes  not*. 

This  may  be  ;  but  the  handsome  though  plain  sarcophagus 
of  Barbatus  may,  by  those  of  a  certain  taste,  be  thought  more 
attractive  than  any  of  the  masterpieces  of  the  Vatican.  The 
eloquent  simple  inscription  becomes  the  virtues  and  the  fel- 
low countrymen  of  the  defunct,  and  instructs  us  more  than  a 
chapter  of  Livy  in  the  style  and  language  of  the  republican 
Romans.! 

The  vault  itself  has  been  emptied  of  the  slabs  and  inscrip- 
tions, and  the  copies  fixed  in  the  spot  where  they  were  found, 
may  be  thought  ill  to  supply  the  place  of  the  originals.  The 
local  impression  would  have  been  stronger ;  but  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  precious  relics  would  have  been  less  sure  in  the 
vault  than  in  the  museum.  The  discovery  of  the  tomb  of  the 
Scipios  was  not  an  unmingled  triumph  for  the  Roman  anti- 
quaries. It  would  not  be  easy  to  exemplify  more  strongly 
than  by  this  instance,  the  error  and  uncertainty  of  their  re- 
searches. A  fragment  of  peperiue,  evidently  detached  from 
this  vault,  with  an  incription  to  Lucius,  son  of  Barbatus  Sci- 

*  All  the  latter  inundations  of  the  Tiber  are  noted  on  the  columns, 
which  serve  as  hydrometers  at  tlie  Ripetta. 

t  CORNELIUS  .  LUCIUS.  SCIPIO  .  BARBATUS  .  GJTAIVOD  .  PATRK PR06- 

NATUS  .  FORTIS  .  VIR  .  SAPIENSQUE  .  qvOIVS  .  FORMA  .  VIRTUTKI  .  PARISC- 

WA  .  FUIT CONSOL  .  CBNSOR  .  AIDILIS  ,  qUEI  .  FUIT  •  APVD  .  TOS  .  TAC- 

RASIA.CISAUNA S  AMNIO  .CEPIT  .  SVBIOIT.  OMNE.  JLOVCANA  •  OBSIPCS- 

QUE  .  ABDovciT.     This  inscription  is  in  four  lines. 

Nine  other  inscriptions  were  discovered  in  this  family  tomb :  they  are 
copied  into  the  new  edition  of  Vennti,  published  in  Rome,  1803,  parte  ii. 
cap.  i-  p.  5,  et  seq- 


112 

pio,  had  been  discovered  in  the  year  mdcxv,  near  the  Porta 
Capena,  and  was  neglected  as  bad  grammar  and  an  evident 
forgery.*  The  objectors  quoted  Cicero  to  prove  that  the 
tomb  of  the  Scipios  must  be  7oithout  the  Porta  Capena,  and 
forgot  that  the  Aurehan  walls  had  brought  forward  that  gate 
beyond  the  Ciceronian  sepulchre.  The  authenticity  of  the 
inscription  was  not  without  protectors,  but  the  error  balanced 
the  fact,  and  the  epitaph  was  occasionally  quoted  as  apocry- 
phal,! until  the  accident  which  uncovered  the  actual  tomb  in 
1780.  Those  who  had  not  supported  the  mistake,  could  not 
but  be  gratified  by  a  discovery  so  precious  both  to  the  philo- 
logist and  the  antiquary,  and  the  happy  accident  was  consign- 
ed to  immortality  in  the  very  eloquent,  but  rather  dull,  dia- 
logues of  the  dead,  whom  the  Conte  Verri  evoked  in  those 
sacred  vaults. 

The  pyramid  which  once  stood  in  the  line  from  the  castle 
of  St.  Angelo  to  the  Vatican  was  called  the  tomb  of  Scipio 
Africanus,  on  the  authority  of  Acron,  a  scholiast  on  HoracCjJ 
and  the  Pine  in  the  Belvedere  was  thought  to  belong  to  that 
monument.  § 


* 


HOJJC  OINO  PLOIRVME  COSENTIONT-  R. 
DVONORO  •  OPTVMO  FVISSE  VIRO 
LVCIOM  .  SCIPIONE  •  FILIOS  BARBATI 
C.ONSOL  CENSOR.  AIDILIS.  HIC  FVET  .  A 
HEC  CEPIT.  CORSICA  .  ALERIAQVE  .  VRBE 
PEDET  TEMPESTATEBVS  AIDE  MERETO- 

Hunc  unum  plurimi  consenliunt  Romse 
Bonorum  optimum  fuisse  virum 
Lucium  Scipiooem  Filius  Barbati 
Consol,  Censor,  ^dilis  hie  fuit 
Hie  eepit  Corsicam,  Aleriamque  urbem 
Dedit  Tempestatibus  sedem  merito. 
Sre  Antiquse  inscriptionis  explanatio.  ap-  Graev.  Antiq.  Rom.  tom.  iv.  p. 
183j,  Romse,  1616.     Winkelmann  quotes  it  as  authentic.     Storia,  &cc. 
lib.  viii.  cap.  viii.  tom.  ii.  p.  153.  edit,  citat. 

t  Tlic  padre  Esehinard  and  his  editor  Venuti  placed  the  tomb  without 
the  modem  Porta  Capena,  opposite  to  the  chapel  called  "  Domine  quo 
Vadis,"  and  gave  a  long  description  of  it.  See  Descrizione  di  Roma  e 
(iell'  agro  Romano,  corretto  dall'  abate  Venuti  in  Roma,  1750.  Echinard 
and  his  editor  are  full  of  gratuitous  applications. 
X  Nardini  Roma  Vetus,  lib.  viii.  cap.  xiii- 
■^  G.  Fabricii  descriptio  Romai,  cap.  xx. 


113 

Stanza  LXXIX. 
T^c  very  sepulchres  lie  tenantless. 

The  period  at  which  the  sepulchres  were  emptied  of  their 
ashes  must  have  been,  first,  that  in  which  the  Christians 
prowled  about  in  every  quarter  for  relics,  and  thought  a 
church  could  be  consecrated  without  such  a  recommenda- 
tion.* Eight  and  twenty  cart-loads  of  relics  could  not  be 
procured  for  the  Pantheon  without  some  diligence  and  da- 
mage to  the  repositories  of  the  pretended  saints  ;t  and  we 
know  that  the  eagerness  of  the  search  extended  to  sepulchres 
where  the  symbols  of  martyrdom  were  very  equivocal,  or  not 
to  be  discovered  at  all. J  Astolphus  the  Lombard,  when  he 
besieged  Rome  in  755,  dug  into  the  cemeteries  of  many 
saints,  and  "  carried  away  their  bodies,  to  the  great  detriment 
of  his  own  soul,"  although  from  the  most  pious  of  motives  • 
and  these  saints  were  doubtless  supposed  to  be  found  in  any 
of  the  thousand  tombs  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Rome.§ 
Either  this  motive,  or  the  expectation  of  finding  the  ornaments 
frequently  buried  with  the  dead,  had  encouraged  a  crime 
which  it  was  found  necessary  to  check  by  laws  in  early  times, 

*  See  the  letter  of  St.  Ambrose  on  the  discovery  of  St.  Genaise  ;inrl 
St.  Protaise,  in  which  he  says,  lie  sent  his  audience  who  begged  a  church 
of  him  ("  respondi,  faciam  si  martyrum  reliquias  invenero,")  to  loolt  for 
relics.  St.  Paul  appeared  to  Ambrose,  and  told  him  to  build  a  church  in 
honour  of  these  martyrs.     Epist.  segregata;,  ep.  ii.  p.  484.  edit.  1C90. 

t  See  a  note  on  the  Pantheon. 

X  "  Era  dunquc  incredibiie  in  que'  secoH  di  ferro  1'  avidita  dclle  sacre 
reliquie."  See  Dissertazione,  58,  sopra  le  antichita  Italiane,  torn,  iii.  p. 
245,  edit.  Milan,  1751.  Theodoric,  bishop  of  Metz,  a  relation  of  Otho 
the  Great,  when  he  came  to  Rome,  took  a  liking  to  the  chain  of  St.  Peter. 
He  happened  to  be  present  with  the  court  and  Emperor  when  Pope  John 
XII.  held  out  the  chain  to  a  sick  courtier  to  bite  and  be  cured.  "  Di 
buone  griffe  avea  questo  prelato,"  observes  Muratori ;  the  bishop  snatched 
at  the  chain,  and  declared  they  might  cut  his  hand  off,  but  he  would  not 
give  it  up.  A  struggle  ensued,  and  the  Emperor  compounded  with  the 
Pope  for  a  link.    Page  246. 

^  "  Multa  corpora  sanctorum,  effodiens  eorum  cemeteria  ad  magnum 
animse  suse  detrimentura  abstulit"     Anastas.  in  vit.  Stephan.  ii.  aut.  iii. 


114 

some  of  which  arc  extant  in  the  codes.  The  practice  was  con- 
tinued to  the  reign,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  it  was  not  con- 
nived at  by  an  edict,  of  Theodoric,*  who  wished  to  discourage 
the  practice  of  impoverishing  the  hving  for  the  decoration  of 
the  dead. 

At  the  fall  of  the  empire  of  Charlemagne,  and  the  rise  of 
the  feudal  lords  of  Italy,  the  size  of  some  of  the  tombs  must 
have  made  the  occupation  of  them  a  military  object,  as  in  the 
ease  of  the  two  great  mausoleums,  and  of  Cecilia  Metella ; 
and  in  the  subsequent  periods  of  repair,  the  marbles  with 
which  they  were  decorated  would  expose  them  to  easy  spolia- 
tion. The  urns  and  sarcophagi,  when  of  precious  materials, 
were,  without  scruple,  transported  from  their  site  and  emptied 
for  the  reception  of  purer  ashes.  Two  of  the  Popes,  Inno- 
cent II. t  and  Clement  XII., J  repose  in  the  marbles,  which,  if 
they  did  not  before  receive  the  bones  of  Hadrian  and  Agrip- 
pa,  were  certainly  constructed  for  heathen  tenants  ;  and  the 
examples  are  innumerable  of  meaner  Christians,  whose  re- 
mains are  enveloped  in  the  symbols  of  paganism.  It  should 
be  recollected  that  the  mythological  sculpture  on  sarcophagi 
was  continued  long  after  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  and 
that  when  the  relations  of  a  defunct  went  to  a  repository  to 
select  a  tomb,  they  were  not  scrupulous  about  the  emblems, 
or  were  ignorant  what  they  represented.  A  bishop,  whose 
stone  cofiin  is  seen  in  the  Basihca  of  St.  Lorenzo,  without  the 
7oalls,  is  enclosed  in  has  reliefs  representing  a  marriage ;  this 
probably  belonged  to  some  Pagan  body  before  it  held  the 
bishop  ;  but  the  Christians  were  sometimes  the  first  tenants 
of  these  heathen-sculptured  tombs. 

Humbler  tombs  were  applied  to  other  services  :  many  are 
now  cisterns.     The  church  of  St.  Paul,  without  the  walls,  was 

*  Cassiod.  variar.  lib.  iv.  epist.  34. 

f  Pietri.  Maiilii.  opusciiltim  historise  saerse  ad  beatiss.  pat.  Alexand. 
III.  pont.  Max.  ap.  Acta  Sanctorum,  lorn.  vii.  part  ii.  p.  67  edit.  Aiitw. 
1717.  This  doubtful  author  (see  a  note  on  the  Castle  of  Saint  Angelo) 
mentions  that  the  porphyry  sarcophagus,  in  which  Hadrian  was  buried, 
was  transferred  to  the  Lateran  for  the  service  of  Innocent  II. 

X  Clement  XII.  is  buried  in  the  Lateran  in  a  beautiful  porphyry  sarco- 
phagus, which  was  taken  from  one  of  the  niches  under  the  porch  of  the 
Pantheon. 


115 

paved  with  gravestones  taken  from  the  Ostian  Way.  A  name 
was  no  protection  in  the  days  of  ignorance  ;  and  the  deposites 
of  the  mausoleum  of  the  Caesars,  when  they  could  not  be  con- 
verted to  profit,  were  applied  to  vulgar  uses.  Some  respect 
might  have  been  paid  to  a  stone  thus  inscribed  : 

The  Bones 

Of  Agrippina,  the  daughter  of  M.  Agrippa, 

The  grand-daughter  of  the  divine  AugustUB, 

The  Wife 

Of  Germanicus  Caesar, 

The  mother  of  C.  Caesar  Augustus 

Germanicus,  our  prince.*  ' 

But  with  these  letters  in  large  characters,  staring  them  in  the 
face,  the  Romans  used  this  stone  as  a  measure  for  300  weight 
of  corn,  and  the  arms  of  their  modern  senate  are  sculptured 
upon  one  of  its  sides,  in  a  style  worthy  of  the  "  rude  age,"  to 
which  a  modest  inscription  ascribes  the  misapplication.  The 
sarcophagus,  a  huge  cubic  stone,  is  standing  in  the  court  of 
the  conservators'  palace  in  the  capitol,  and  is  at  this  time  per- 
haps scarcely  preserved  with  so  much  care  as  might  be  claim- 
ed by  a  memorial  of  the  only  virtuous  female  of  the  Julian 
race.  The  pilgrim  of  the  Xlllth  century  tells  us  that  he  saw 
these  words  over  one  of  the  cells  of  the  mausoleum  of  Augus- 
tus. "  These  are  the  bones  and  ashes  of  J^erva,  the  Em- 
peror.^^^ 

The  bones  and  ashes  of  emperors  have  been  dispersed  in 
the  ruins  of  this  great  sepulchre,  which,  from  being  choked 
up  as  a  fortress,  was  hollowed  out  for  a  vineyard,  and,  having 
at  last  become  a  circus,  serves  for  the  bull-feasts  of  the  sum- 
mer festivals.     Some  less  illustrious  ashes  have  been  pre- 

*  Ossa, 

Agrippinse  .  M.  Agrippae  . 

Divi  .  Aug.  Neptis.  Uxoris . 

Germanici .  Caesaris . 
Matris  .  C.  Caesaris  •  Aug. 
Germanici  .  Principis. 
f  "  Haec  sunt  ossa  et  cinis  Nervae  Imperatoris."    Liber  de  mirabilibus 
Romse.  ap.  Montfaucon.  Diariura  Italicum,  p.  £9^ 

15 


116 

served,  or  supplied  in  the  columbaria  of  the  two  families, 
whose  vaults  are  shown  in  the  garden  in  which  stands  the  ruin 
called  Minerva  Medica.*  But  when  the  tombs  were  above 
ground,  the  cells  were  soon  rifled  and  stripped  of  their  orna- 
ments. In  later  ages  the  pyramid  of  Cestius  was  broken  and 
ransacked  for  gold.t  The  tombs  of  the  "  happy  dead"  are 
become  the  huts  of  the  wretched  living,  and  the  Appian  Way 
may  now  humble  the  pride,  but  will  hardly  contribute  to  the 
consolations  of  philosophy.! 

The  museums  have  stripped  these  populous  cemeteries  of 
their  memorials.  The  six  thousand  freedmen§  of  the  Augus- 
tan household  have  been  transferred,  at  least  some  of  their 
obscure  names,  to  the  Capitol.  A  more  judicious  plan  has 
lately  been  adopted  at  the  instance  of  the  Marquis  Canova, 
who  has  adjusted  some  of  the  fragments,  and  the  inscription 
of  the  sepulchre  of  the  Servilian  family,||  and  raised  them 
where  they  were  found.  It  may  be  observed  that  the  great 
approaches  to  the  cities  were  not  marked  by  tombs  alone,  but 

*  The  freedmen  of  Lucius  Arruntius,  consul  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius, 
and  those  of  some  nameless  or  iinknown  family. 

t  Aringhi,  Roma  Subterranea,  lib.  iii.  cap.  i.  num.  7.  torn.  i.  p.  405, 
tells  the  story  as  a  fact,  or  a  conjecture,  from  Bosius,  who  has  also  made 
a  thick  volume  on  subterranean  Rome.  That  volume  and  the  two  folios 
of  Aringhi,  connecting  the  history  of  Rome  with  that  of  martyrdom, 
may  serve  to  show  what  was  likely  to  become  of  the  monuments  in  the 
hands  of  those  who  thought  all  that  was  worth  looking  for  was  under 
ground,  and  spurning  the  triumphal  arches  and  columns  of  Pagan  heroes, 
dived  into  cemeteries  and  catacombs  in  search  of  the  founders  of  the 
city  of  God. 

I  "  An  tu  egressus  Porta  Capena  cum  Calatini,  Scipionum,  Servilio- 
rum,  Metellorum  sepulchra  vides  miseros  putas  illos.'"  Tuscul.  Q,u. 
lib:  i. 

?:$  The  three  sepulchral  chambers  containing  the  urns  of  the  household 
of  Augustus  were  discovered  opposite  the  first  milestone  on  the  Appian 
Waj',  and  that  of  the  family  of  Livia  was  opened  in  1726,  a  little  be- 
yond. See  Ant  Franc.  Gori.  de  libertor.  calumbario-  ap.  Poleno.  torn. 
iii. 

I  M.  SERVILIVS  qvahtvs 

I>£  SVA  FECVNIA  FECIT. 

"  Fragmenta  ad  sepulc.  hoc  an.  d.  1808,  a  canova.  reperta  ac  donata^ 
jivs.  VII.  p.  M.  ita  in  perpet.  servanda  consuluit." 


117 

partly  by  suburban  villas,  and  tradesmen's  houses,  and  semi- 
circular seats.  Thus  they  were  frequented  as  public  walks, 
and  the  beauty  of  the  sepulchres,  together  with  the  religion 
of  the  people,  and  the  wisdom  of  the  higher  orders,  pre- 
vented any  melancholy  reflections  from  being  suggested  by  the 
receptacles  of  the  dead.  Those  who  have  seen  the  street  of 
the  tombs  at  Pompej  will  feel  the  truth  of  this  observation. — 
The  Appian  sepulchres  extend,  at  short  intervals,  for  several 
miles — let  us  fill  the  intermediate  spaces  with  handsome  edi- 
fices— restore  the  despoiled  marbles  to  the  tombs  themselves 
— then  imagine  that  the  same  decorations  adorned  all  the 
other  thirty  great  roads*  which  branched  off  from  the  capital ; 
add  to  this  also  the  banks  of  the  Tiber,  shaded  with  villas 
from  as  far  as  Otricolif  on  the  Sabine  side  to  the  port  of  Ostia, 
— with  these  additions,  which  it  appears  may  be  fairly  sup- 
plied from  ancient  notices,  we  shall  account  for  the  immense 
space  apparently  occupied  by  the  city  and  suburbs  of  old 
Rome. 

Stanza  LXXXI. 
we  but  feel  our  way  to  err. 


The -greater  share  of  satisfaction  at  Rome  will  come  to  the 
portion  of  those  travellers  who  find,  like  Dante,  a  pleasure 
in  doubting.  The  stranger,  when  he  has  entered  the  modern 
city,  would,  at  least,  wish  to  assure  himself  that  he  knows  the 
site  of  ancient  Rome.  He  has,  however,  to  clear  his  ground 
of  some  of  the  conjectures  of  the  learned,  even  before  he 
can  persuade  himself  thoroughly  of  this  fact.  He  soon  will 
believe  that  the  circuit  of  the  present  walls  is  somewhat  bigger 

*  There  were  twenty-nine  according  to  one  account,  and  thirty-one 
according  to  another.    Fam.  Nardini.  Roma  Vetus,  lib.  viii.  cap.  i. 

t  Otricoli,  the  ancient  Otriculum,  is  xxxvi.  M.  P.  from  Rome.  Some 
writers  thought  the  town  stretched  as  far  as  this,  but  even  Vossius  gives 
up  this  absurdity,  (De  magnit.  Romae  Vet-  cap.  v.  ap.  Graev.  Antiq-  Rom. 
tom.  iv.)  the  villas  however  might.  See  Nardini  Roma  Vetus,  lib.  viii. 
cap.  ii.  Donatus  de  urbe  Roma,  lib.  i.  cap.  xvi. 


118 

than  the  region  of  the  old  Esquilias,  and  more  than  a  two 
hundredth  part  of  the  Augustan  city.* 

But  he  will  not  find  it  quite  so  easy  to  reconcile  the  various 
measurements  with  the  actual  appearance  of  the  walls,  or  to 
undej:stand  how,  as  Mr.  Gibbon  tells  us,  "  their  circumference^ 
except  in  the  Vatican,  has  been  invariably  the  same,  from  the 
triumph  of  Aurelian  to  the  peaceful  but  obscure  reign  of  the 
Popes.'^'']  If  so,  it  was  the  same,  first,  when  Alaric  took 
Rome  ;  secondly,  when  the  dominion  of  the  Popes  was  es- 
tablishqd  ;  thirdly,  at  this  day. 

The  circuit,  diminished  from  the  fifty  miles  of  Vopiscus, 
"  is  reduced,  by  accurate  measurement,  to  about  twenty-one 
miles,"  says  Mr.  Gibbon,  in  his  eleventh  chapter.J  This 
gives  his  measurement  for  the  first  period.  But  when  Poggio 
saw  them,  "  they  formed  a  circumference  of  ten  miles,  in- 
cluded 379  turrets,  and  opened  into  the  country  by  thirteen 
gates. "§  This  serves  for  the  second  date.  Lastly,  "  what- 
ever fancy  may  conceive,  the  severe  compass  of  the  geo- 
grapher defines  the  circumference  of  Rome  within  a  line  of 
twelve  miles  and  three  hundred  and  forty-five  paces. "|| 
These  words  of  the  same  historian  apply  to  the  third  point  of 
time. 

Now  it  is  quite  clear  that  all  these  measurements  diflfer, 
and  yet  it  is  equally  clear  that  the  historian  avers  they  are  all 
the  same.     He  says,  in  another  place,  speaking  of  them  in  the 

*  "  Vel  solae  Esqulliae  majores  erant,  quam  sit  totum  illud  quod  hodier- 
nig  includitur  muris  spatium.''  Isa.  Vossii  de  magnit  Rom.  Veteris,  p. 
1507.  ap.  Graev.  torn.  iv.  To  have  a  perfect  notion  of  the  logic  of  learn- 
ing, it  is  sufficient  to  read  this  insane  treatise,  which  spreads  the  walls  to 
72  miles,  and  the  inhabitants  to  14  millions.  There  is  scarcely  an  incon- 
trovertible position  in  all  his  seven  chapters.  Lipsius  is  not  quite  so  para- 
doxical in  his  conclusions,  and  he  is  much  more  ingenious  in  his  array  of 
authorities — his  Rome  is  £3  miles. 

+  Decline  and  Fall,  CHp.  xli.  vol.  vii.  oct.  p.  228. 

X  Ibid.  vol.  ii.  oct.  p.  28.  See  also  another  place.  "  When  the  capital 
of  the  empire  was  besieged  by  the  Goths,  the  circuit  of  the  walls  was 
accurately  measured  by  Ammonius  the  mathematician,  who  found  it 
equal  to  twenty-one  miles.''     Cap  xxxi.  tom.  xii.  oct.  p.  287. 

<}  Decline  and  Fall,  cap.  Ixxi.  torn.  xii.  oct.  p.  698. 

II  Ibid,  cap.  xU.  p.  227. 


119 

age  of  Petrarch,  the  walls  "  still  described  the  old  circumfer- 
ence."* It  is  true  he  cites  authorities  ;  but  he  speaks  with- 
out reserve,  and  has  not  attempted  to  account  for  the  differ- 
ence between  the  three^  above-given  dimensions.  We  shall 
find  no  help,  therefore,  from  the  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Ro- 
man Empire,  unless  we  follow  only  one  of  these  various  ac- 
counts, and  believe  in  the  third  computation,  which  is  that  as- 
signed by  D'Anville  from  NoUi's  map,  and  which  coincides 
with  the  experience  of  two  of  our  countrymen,  who  made  a 
loose  calculation!  of  the  circuit  by  walking  round  the  walls  in 
the  winter  of  last  year,  (1817). 

Poggio's  measurement  was  probably  nearly  exact,  for  he 
did  not  reckon  the  ramparts  of  Urban,  and,  perhaps,  not  the 
Vatican ;  but  it  is  singular,  that  the  pilgrim  of  the  thirteenth 

*  Ibid.  cap.  Ixxi.  p.  411.  torn.  xii.  Mr,  Gibbon  has  failed  to  observe 
that  the  walls  were  dilated  after  Aurelian  and  Probus,  by  Constantine, 
who  took  down  one  of  the  sides  of  the  Prsetorian  camp,  and  made  the  re- 
maining three  serve  for  the  fortifications  of  the  city,  whose  circuit  therebj 
became  necessarily  somewhat  enlarged. 

t  The  following  is  a  note  of  their  walk.  They  set  out  from  the  banks 
of  the  Tiber,  near  the  Fiaminian  gate  (Porta  del  Popolo);  their  rate  of 
walking  was  592  paces  in  five  minutes,  and  they  noted  the  time  from  gate 
to  gate.  To  the  Porta  Pinciana  (shut)  18  minutes — Porta  Salara  8 — 
Porta  Pia  3 — a  shut  gate  (Querquetulana)  12 — St-  Lorenzo  8 — Maggiore 
7  1-2— Lateran,  or  Porta  St.  Giovanni,  12  1-2— Porta  Latina  (shut)  17  1-2 
— Porta  Capena,  or  St.  Sebastiano,  4  1-4 — a  shut  gate  3  3-4 — Porta  di 
St.  Paolo  (Ostian)  14  l-2^delay  4  1-2 — within  the  wall,  the  outer  circuij 
not  being  accessible,  4  3-4 — delay  7 — within  the  walls  down  to  the  Tiber 
6  1-2 — delay  4 — bank  of  the  Tiber  within  ruined  wall  10  3-4 — delay  occa- 
sioned by  going  across  the  Tiber  to  the  opposite  corner  88  1-2 — from 
bank  of  the  Tiber  to  Porta  Portese  1-2 — Porta  Aureliti,  or  S.  Panerasio, 
13  1-2 — Porta  Cavalli  leggieri  14  1-4 — a  shut  gate  (Porta  delle  Fornaci) 
2  1-2— Porta  Fabbrica  (shut)  6— Porta  Angelica  14  1-4— Porta  Castello 
(a  shut  gate)  5  1-4 — round  to  the  corner  of  the  bastion  of  St.  Angelo,  on 
bank  of  the  Tiber,  7  3-4 — along  the  bank  of  the  Tiber  where  there  are  no 
walls,  to  the  ferry  at  the  Ripetta  7  1-4 — delay  10  1-4 — crossing  the  Tiber 
and  walking  along  the  bank  to  the  corner  of  the  walls  whence  they  set 
out,  6  1-2. — The  time  employed  in  %valk  was  4  hours,  38  minutes  ;  the 
delays  amounted  to  one  hour,  four  minutes,  and  a  quarter.  The  time  ta- 
ken walking  round  the  actual  circuit  of  the  city  was  three  hours,  thirty- 
three  minutes,  and  three  quarters.  Supposing  the  rate  of  walking  to  be 
about  three  miles  and  a  half  an  hour,  the  measurement  is  twelre  miles  and 
a  quarter. 


120 

cetitury,  who  undoubtedly  saw  the  same  walls,  and  enumerates 
very  nearly  the  same  quantity  of  turrets,  should*  give  to  them 
a  circumference  double  that  of  the  Florentine,  and  nearly  co- 
inciding with  that  of  the  time  of  Alaric,  that  is,  twenty-one 
miles.  If,  however,  they  were  so  accurately  measured  at  that 
time,  the  present  walls  cannot  possibly  stand  on  the  site  of 
those  of  Aurelian ;  for,  since  the  Vatican  has  been  included, 
and  also  the  ramparts  of  Urban  VIII.,  which  Mr.  Gibbon  has 
overlooked,  or  falsely  confounded  with  the  Vatican,  the  mo- 
dern circuit  being  larger  on  one  side  the  Tiber,  and  the  same 
on  the  other,  it  is  evident  that  the  whole  circumference  at  pre- 
sent must  be  greater  than  it  was  under  Aurelian.  That  is  to 
gay,  twelve  miles,  three  hundred  and  fifty-five  paces,  are  more- 
than  twenty-one  miles — "  xvhich  is  absurd.^'' 

The  present  walls  may  touch  at  points  and  take  in  frag- 
ments, but  they  cannot  include  the  same  circumference  as  the 
twenty-one  miles  accurately  measured  by  the  mathematician 
Ammonius.  Some  assistance  might  be  expected  from  the  ex- 
amination of  the  walls  themselves :  but  here  again  it  may  be 
necessary  to  warn  the  reader  in  what  manner  he  is  to  under- 
stand an  assertion  which  he  will  find  in  another  work,  lately 
published,  of  the  same  author.!  "  Those  zoho  examine  with 
attention  the  xoalls  of  Rome,  still  distinguish  the  shapeless  stones 
of  the  first  Romans,  the  cut  marbles  with  rohich  they  were  con- 
structed under  the  Emperors,  and  the  ill-burnt  bricks  with  which 
they  were  repaired  in  the  barbarous  ages.'''*  Now  the  whole  of 
the  modern  walls  are  of  brick*  with  the  following  exceptions. 
There  are  some  traces  of  the  arched  work  on  which  the  walls 
of  Aurelian,  perhaps,  were  raised,  about  the  Porta  Pia  and  the 
Porta  Salara.     There  are  buttresses  of  travertine,  and,  in  one 

*  "  Miirus  civitatis  Romae  habet  turres  361.  Castella  id  est  merulos 
6900,  portas  12,  pusterulas  (portae  minores)  5.  In  circuitu  vero  sunt  mil- 
liaria  22,  exceptis  Transtiberim  et  civitate  Leonina  id  est  porticu  St.  Pe- 
tri."    Lib.  de  mirabilibus  Romae,  in  loc.  citat.  p.  283. 

t  "  Ceux  qui  examinent  avec  attention  les  murailles  de  Rome  distin- 
guent  encore  les  pierres  informes  des  premiers  Romains,  les  marbres  bien 
travaiiles  dont  on  les  construisit  sous  les  Empereurs,  et  les  briques  malcui- 
tes  dont  on  les  reparoit  dans  les  siecles  barbares."  Nomina  gentesque  ao- 
^quae  Italise,  p-  209 • 


121 

case  (the  Porta  Capena),  of  marble,  about  the  gateways,  which 
are  of  the  same  imperial  date.  There  are  single  shapeless 
fragments  of  marble  here  and  there,  mixed  up  with  the  more 
modern  work,  and  occasionally  laid  upon  the.  top  of  the  wails. 
This  is  all  that  can  apply  to  Mr.  Gibbon's  description  ;  for  aS 
to  the  shapeless  stones  of  the  first  Romans,  they  cannot  be  dis- 
covered, except  in  those  scarcely  distinguishable  mounds 
which  are  within  the  walls,  a  little  beyond  the  Thermae  of  Dio- 
cletian, and  are  usually  thought  part  of  the  Tullian  rampart.* 
It  must  be  remarked  also,  that  there  is  no  evidence  that  the 
walls  of  the  Emperors  were  of  cut  marble.  The  authority  of 
Cassiodorus  has  been  followed  by  Marlianust  and  others,  as  af- 
fording a  proof  that  they  were  composed  of  square  blocks. — 
But  it  has  been  noted  by  Nardini,|  on  another  occasion,  that 
the  Gothic  minister,  in  making  use  of  the  word  mcBnia,  does  not 
always  allude  to  the  walls  of  the  city,  but  of  other  structures  ; 
and  in  that  sense  we  have  before  interpreted,  in  a  preceding 
note,§  what  he  says  of  the  square  stones  of  the  ruins.  The 
same  topographer  justly  remarks  the  contrary  fact,  that  the 
oldest  work  now  apparent  is  of  brick.\\  The  three  sides  of  a 
square  from  near  the  Porta  Pia  to  the  Porta  Querquetulana,  a 
shut  gate,  seem  to  be  the  Praetorian  ramparts  included  by  Con- 
stantine,  and  not  materially  defaced  by  repairs.**  The  amphi- 
theatre for  the  Prastorians  is  also  in  the  Aurelian  circuit,  near 
the  church  of  Santa  Croce  m  Gerusalemme  /  and  some  large 
stones,  laid  one  on  another,  without  cement,  contiguous  to  that 
amphitheatre,  are  only  to  be  ascribed  to  the  hasty  preparations 

*  The  plan  in  the  last  edition  of  Venuti  lays  down  the  Agger  Tarquinii 
in  the  space  between  the  Lateran  and  Santa  Croce  in  Gerusalemme  :  re- 
peated search  may  fail  in  finding  any  trace  of  this  Agger.  Donatus  posi- 
tively says  there  is  none.     Lib.  i.  cap.  xiii. 

t  Urbis  Rorase  topographia,  lib.  i.  cap.  ix. 

X  Roma  Vetus,  lib.  i.  cap.  viii. 

?5  See  note  to  Stanza  LXXX. 

II  "  Nam  vetus  ilia  substructio  e  lateribus  est."     Ibid. 

**  Donatus  has  observed,  that  the  words  of  Zosimus  will  not  justify  this 
inference,  but  that  the  present  appearance  of  this  part  of  the  walls  will. 
Lib.  i.  cap.  XV.  Fabricius,  (descriplio  urbis  Roma;,  cap.  v.  and  vi.)  has 
given  a  plate,  in  which  the  castra  prcetoria  are  put  without  the  walls,  to  cor- 
respond with  the  old  appearance. 


122 

of  Belisarius  before  the  second  siege.  The  strange  reticu- 
lated hanging  wall,  opposite  to  the  gate  of  the  villa  Borghese, 
was  anotlier  ancient  structure  which  made  part  of  the  defences 
of  the  city  before  the  time  of  that  general.  All  these  three 
portions  of  the  circuit  are  of  brick,  and  the  comparative  anti- 
quity of  other  parts  is  easily  ascertained  by  those  accustomed 
to  such  investigations.  Some  of  the  fragments  of  the  next 
date  are  to  be  attributed  to  Honorius,*  a  considerable  restorer, 
or  rather  rebuilder  of  the  walls.  In  the  interval  between  his 
reign  and  thatof  Theodoric,  repairs  had  become  requisite,  and 
were  undertaken  by  that  monarch.  Belisarius  made  them  ca- 
pable of  defence,  and,  in  the  subsequent  occupation  of  the 
city,  partly  rebuilt  that  third  portion  which  Totila  had  thrown 
down,  and  then  helped  afterwards  to  repair.  Narses  was  also 
a  restorer  of  the  walls;  and  some  work  resembling  that  of  the 
"  Amphitheatre  of  the  Camps,"  has  been  ascribed  to  his  imita- 
tion of  that  more  ancient  construction.! 

It  appears  that  the  circuit  followed  by  each  of  these  restor- 
ers must  have  been  very  nearly,  if  not  exactly,  that  of  Aure- 
lian,  or  at  least  Honorius. |  No  vestiges  of  foundations  Which 
could  have  belonged  to  those  older  walls,  can  be  discovered  be- 
3'ond  the  present  circumference  ;  and  the  same  fact  has  been 
ably  deduced  from  many  concurrent  arguments,  especially  by 
Donatus,  who  tries  to  prove  that  the  Popes,  who  subsequently 
rebuilt  and  repaired  them,  also  adopted  the  ancient  line,  and 
did  not  at  all  contract  the  space  occupied  by  the  old  imperial 
fortifications.  § 

How,  then,  are  we  to  reconcile  the  measurement  as  it  is 
stated  to  have  been  accurately  taken  by  Ammonius,  with  the 
present  circuit,  which,  except  on  the  Transtiberine  side, 
where  it  is  larger,  is  evidently  nearly  the  same  as  it  was  un- 

*  See  Claudian  in  VI.  Cons.  Honor,  and  an  inscription  over  a  shut  gate 
at  the  Porta  Maggiore.  Nardiiii,  ibid.  A  similar  inscription  was  over  the 
Porta  Portese,  which  was  thrown  down  by  Urban  VIII.  See  Donatus, 
lib.  1.  cap.  XV- 

f  Nardini,  ibid. 

t  Nardini  thinks  they  were  shrunk  backwards  a  little  towards  the  Am- 
phitheatrum  Castrense,  when  BeHsarius  repaired  them  the  second  time. 
Ibid. 

^  De  urbe  Roma,  lib.  i.  cap.  xviii.  xix.  xx. 


123 

der  the  Emperors  ?  There  seems  no  expedient  but  to  reject 
the  authority  of  that  mathematician,  or  rather  his  reporter 
Olympiodorus,  and  to  bcheve  that  Pliny's  older  measurement 
of  thirteen  miles,  two  hundred  paces,*  was  not  so  much 
dilated  by  Aurelian  as  is  generally  thought  -,1  and  that  it  in- 
cluded every  suburban  district  which  was  surrounded  with  a 
wall,  such  as  the  Praetorian  camp,  and  the  Transtiberine 
region,  and  might  therefore  possibly  extend  itself  to  spots 
where  no  traces  of  it  have  been  found  or  sought  for.  In  that 
case  the  discrepancy  between  the  present  and  the  ancient 
circuit  will  be  much  diminished,  if  not  altogether  annihilated. 
To  this  it  may  be  added,  that  as  the  works  of  Narses.  and, 
indeed,  of  the  Emperors,  were  of  brick,  they  might,  when 
once  decayed,  very  easily  be  gradually  lost  ;  and  that  when 
the  Popes  commenced  their  repairs,  the  diagonal  of  an 
irregular  projection  might  here  and  tliere  have  been  taken, 
instead  of  the  former  line,  by  which  means  a  partial  reduc- 
tion, sufficient  to  account  for  the  above  difference,  may  be 
allowed  to  have  taken  place. 

It  should  seem,  that  during  the  troubles  of  the  exarchate, 
the  walls  had  fallen  down  in  many  parts,  and  that  the  city 
was  left  naked  on  some  points,  particularly  towards  the  gate 
of  St.  Lorenzo.  The  terms  in  which  the  rebuilding  by  the 
Popes,  in  the  eighth  century,  are  recorded,  would  imply 
almost  a  totally  new  construction.  After  Sisinnius  and  Gre- 
gory the  Second  and  Third  had  made  some  progress  in  this 
useful  labour,  Hadrian  the  First  convoked  the  peasants  from 
Tuscany  and  Campania,  and,  with  their  help  and  that  of  the 
Romans,  rebuilt  from  their  foundations^  in  many  places,  the 
walls  and  towers  in  all  their  circuit.     Such  are  the  strong  ex- 

*  "  Msenia  ejus  collegere  ambitu  Imperatoribiis  Censoribusque  Vespa- 
sianis,  anno  conditse  dccckxviii.  passuum  xnr.  m.cc.  complexa  monies 
septe.m"  This  is  tlie  celebrated  passage  which  has  puzzled  Lipsius  and 
the  commentators  and  topographers. 

t  Nardini,  ibid,  has  shown  where  the  additional  ground  was  taken  in 
by  Aurelian  ;  and  Donatus  was  almost  inclined  to  think,  that  that  Em- 
peror had  not  enlarged  the  circuit.  Cassiodorus  and  Eusebius  do  not 
talk  of  the  walls  being  increased,  but  fortifir.d.  Vopiscus,  by  mentioning 
fifty  milos,  has  taken  away  all  credit  from  himself  or  from  hi»  text- 
Donat  lib.  i  cap.  xix. 

16 


124 

pressions  of  the  papal  biographer.*  Leo  IV.  in  847,  in- 
cluded the  Borgo,  that  is,  the  Basilica  of  St.  Peter's,  and 
the  contiguous  quarter  of  the  Vatican  :  and  from  his  reign 
until  that  of  Urban  VIII.  nineteen  Pontiffs  have  been  specifi- 
ed as  contributing  to  the  repairs.  It  is  not  at  all  surprising, 
therefore,  that  an  early  topographer  should  have  declared, 
that  the  walls  were  indubitably  not  ancient. t  The  antiqua- 
ries profess  to  see  a  hundred  different  constructions  in  their 
mixed  composition.  Urban  VIII.  completed  them  as  we  now 
see  them,  by  running  his  rampart  along  the  acclivity  of  the 
Janiculum,  from  the  Aurelian  gate  (Saint  Pancrazio)  to  the 
angle  of  the  Vatican,  commonly  called  the  Porta  de*  cavalli 
leggieri.\  He  entirely  rebuilt  them  from  the  same  Aurelian 
gate  to  the  Porta  Portese,  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber.  Since 
that  period  other  Pontiffs  have  been  active  in  repairs,  but  no 
change  has  taken  place  in  the  circuit ;  concerning  which  we 
may  finally  conclude,  that  it  is  equal,  very  nearly,  if  not 
quite,  to  the  largest  circumference  of  the  ancient  city,  and, 
except  on  the  Transtiberine  side,  generally  follows  the  line 
of  Aurelian.  It  is  equally  clear,  that  the  exact  ancient  line 
could  not  always  be  followed.     We  see  this  from  the  bastion 

*  "  Verum  etiam  et  muros  atque  turres  hujus  Romanse  urbis  quae 
diriita;  erant  et  usque  ad  fundamenta  destnictse  renovarit  atque  utiliter 
omnia  in  circuitu  restauravit."  Anast.  de  Vit-  Rom.  Pontif.  Script.  Rer. 
Italic,  torn.  iii.  p.  188. 

"  Ipse  vero  deo,  ut  dicitur,  protectus  Prsesul  conspiciens  muros  hujus 
civitatis  Romanae  peroiitana  tempora  in  ruinis  positos,  et  per  loca  plures 
turres  usque  ad  terram  eversas,  per  suum  solertissimum  studiura  totas 
civitates  tarn  Tuscise,  quamque  Campaniae  congregans  una  cum  populo 
Romano,  ejusque  suburbanis,  nee  non  et  toto  ecclesiastico  patrimonio 
omnibus  prsedicans,  et  dividens  ex  sumptibus  dapibusque  Apostolicis 
totam  urbem  in  circuitu  restaurans  universa  renovavit,  atque  decoravit." 
Ibid,  p   194. 

Anastasius  flourished  under  Hadrian  II.  and  John  VIII.  He  writes 
only  to  Nicholas  I.  The  remainder  of  the  lives  were  written  by  William, 
another  librarian,  under  the  name  of  Damasus.  See — Bianchini's  pro- 
legomena to  the  liber  pontificalis.  Both  one  and  the  other  were  compi- 
lers, not  composers,  of  the  lives.  The  edition  in  Muratori  and  that  of 
Bianchini,  have  been  used. 

f  "  Msenia  urbis  nunc  extantia  non  esse  antiqua  sicut  nulli  est  dubiuna 
ita  multis  argumentis  apparet.'"    Marlian.  Urb.  Rom.  Topog.  lib.  i.  cap.  ix. 

t  Dcnatus,  lib.  i.  cap.  xx. 


125 

of  Paul  III.  at  the  foot  of  the  Aventine,  which,  if  it  had 
been  finished,  would  have  probably  been  considered  as  upon 
that  ancient  line. 

If  from  the  walls  themselves  we  retire  into  the  interior  of 
their  vast  circuit,  we  shall  be  still  more  confounded,  and 
"  stumble  o'er  recollections."  The  names  given  to  the  monu- 
ments perpetually  vary,  according  to  the  fancy  of  some  pre- 
dominant antiquary.  At  one  period  all  vaulted  ruins  belong 
to  baths,  at  another  they  are  portions  of  temples  ;  Basilicas 
are  at  times  the  favourite  denomination.  The  consequence 
of  this  varying  nomenclature  is  the  embarrassment  of  those 
who  put  themselves  under  the  guidance  of  the  best  ancient 
or  modern  topographers  ;  and  we  are  often  apt  to  reduce  the 
monuments  of  all  the  regions  to  the  character  given  by  Nar- 
dini  to  those  of  the  Aventine,  which  he  divides  into  "  sites 
not  altogether  uncertain,  and  sites  evidently  uncertain."* 

The  antiquarian  disputes  began  at  an  early  period  ;  and 
where  nothing  but  a  name  was  left,  there  was  still  some  plea- 
sure found  in  the  struggles  of  conjecture.  The  mica  aurca 
has  not  been  seen  since  the  ninth  century  ;  but  it  afforded  an 
opportunity  of  quoting  Plutarch,  Amraian,  and  Martial,  to 
show,  that  it  might  have  been  a  Greek  girl,  or  a  Bear,  or  a 
Supper-house.]  The  actual  remains  were  soon  found  to  be  no 
less  uncertain.  The  two  vaults  of  the  church  of  St.  Maria 
Nuova  were  believed,  by  Pomponius  Lastus,  the  fragments  of 
a  temple  of  jEsculapius  and  Health  ;  by  Marlianus,  of  the  Sun 
and  Moon  ;  by  Blondus,  of  ^sculapius  and  Apollo  ;  by  Pog- 
gio,  of  Castor  and  Pollux.  J  They  are  now  called  the  Temple 
of  Venus  and   Rome,    according   to  the    opinion  to   which 

*" Situs  non  omnino  incerti  ct  situs  plane  incerti"  Lib.  viii.  cap.  vi. 
The  choice  of  Remus  is  peculiarly  deserted.  Victor  alone  has  left  any 
account  of  it  In  all  the  twelfth  region,  between  the  Circus  Maximus  and 
the  Baths  of  Caracalla,  the  latter  was  the  only  monument  recognisable 
by  the  eyes  of  the  above  topographer- 

+  Nardini,  lib.  iii.  cap    viii. 

I  Fabricii  Descrip.  Urb.  Rom.  cap.  ix.  ap.  Grsev.  Ant.  torn.  iii.  At- 
tached to  it  is  the  church  now  called  S.  Fi-ancesca  Romana  ;  and  if  the 
stranger  goes  for  information  to  the  modern  inscription,  he  Avill  find  these 
words  :  "  In  queste  pielre  pose  le  ginochia  S-  Pietro  quando  i  demoiij  por- 
tarono  Simonr  Ma^o  ptr  ana." 


126 

Nardini  seemed  to  incline.*  See  also  the  many  names  given 
to  the  temple  of  Santa  Maria  Egizziaca.t  Some  thought  it  a 
chapel  of  Patrician  Modesty,  some  a  Basilica  of  Caius  and 
Lucius,  some  a  temple  of  Good  Fortune,  others  of  Manly 
Fortune.  It  is  now  come  back  to  Modesty.J  The  temple 
attributed  to  Vesta,  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber,  was  once 
thought  that  of  Hercules  Victor,  and  also  of  the  Sun.  Pom- 
ponius  Laetus§  called  it  that  of  Juno  Matuta,  others  named 
the  goddess  Volupia.||  Hercules  was  recovering  his  rights 
during  the  winter  of  1817.  The  Patrician  Modesty  is  trans- 
ferred, by  an  inscription,  to  the  church  of  Santa  Maria  in 
Cosmedin,  commonly  called  the  Schola  Gra^ca  ;  and  the  same 
inscription  asserts,  that  Saint  Augustine  taught  rhetoric  in 
this  school.** 

Other  examples  of  uncertainty  will  occur  in  the  subsequent 
notices  of  individual  monuments.  It  would  be  hazardous  to 
give  a  list  of  those  which  can  suggest  no  reasonable  doubts. 
The  Coliseum,  the  three  Triumphal  Arches,  those  of  Drusus, 
of  Dolabella  and  Silanus,  of  Gallienus ;  the  Baths  of  Diocle- 
tian, of  Caracalla,  of  Constantine,  a  part  of  those  of  Titus  ; 
the  Theatre  of  Marcellus,  the  few  remains  of  that  of  Pom- 
pey ;  the  two  bridges  of  the  Tiberine  island ;  the  mauso- 
leums of  Augustus  and  Hadrian  ;  the  two  historical  columns  ; 
the  tomb  of  Cestius,  the  tomb  of  Bibulus,  the  tomb  of  the 
Scipioa  ;  the  Pantheon  ;  the  column  of  Phocas  ;  the  Septi- 
mian  arch  in  the  Velabrum  ;  the  inscribed  obelisks  ;  the  cas- 
tellum  of  the  Claudian  aqueduct ;  two  or  three  of  the  city 
gates  ;  the  arcades  of  the  Gloaca ;  the  jElian  bridge  ;  these 
seem  the  most  secure  from  scepticism  ;  and  it  would  be  diffi- 

*  Nardini,  lib.  iii.  cap.  2. 

t  Donatus,  lib.  ii.  cap.  18.    Nardini,  lib.  vii.  cap.  iv. 

\  In  the  time  of  Fulvius,  this  tract  about  the  Patrician  Modesty  was 
solely  inhabited  by  prostitutes.     Nardini,  lib.  vii.  cap.  iv. 

^  Doniitus,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xxv. 

II  "Alii  Hcrculis,  alii  Vestse,  alii  deae  Volupia."  Montfaucon,  Diarium 
Italicuni,  p,  188. 

**  No  trust  is  to  be  put  in  modern  inscriptions,  and  sometimes  not  in 
those  which  have  every  appearance  of  antiquity.  Doubts  have  been  en- 
tertained even  about  the  inscription  on  the  tomb  of  Bibulus,  by  Augusti- 
nus,  in  his  dialogue  on  ancient  coins. 


]27 

cult  to  name  another  monument  within  the  walls  of  an  equally 
certain  character. 

Stanza  LXXXII. 

for  never  shall  we  see 

That  brightness  in  her  eye  she  bore  when  Rome  was  free. 

It  was  one  of  the  complaints  of  Poggio*  that  he  saw  almost 
nothing  entire,  and  but  very  few  remains  of  the  free  city  ;  and 
indeed  the  principal  disappointment  at  Rome  arises  from  find- 
ing such  insignificant  vestiges  of  the  first  ages  and  of  the  re- 
public. Something,  perhaps,  might  be  added  to  the  lists  of 
them  given  by  Mr.  Forsyth  :  but  not  much.  We  have  seen 
how  soon  those  works  disappeared  ;  but  we  might  still  have 
expected  to  find  something  more  than  a  sewer,  a  prison,  a  row 
of  vaults,  a  foundation  wall,  a  pavement,  a  sepulchre,  a  half- 
buried  fragment  of  a  theatre  and  circus.  The  artist  may 
be  comparatively  indifferent  to  the  date  and  history,  and  re- 
gard chiefly  the  architectural  merit  of  a  structure  :  but  the 
Rome  which  the  republican  Florentine  regretted,  and  which  an 
Englishman  must  wish  to  find,  is  not  that  of  Augustus  and  his 
successors,  but  of  those  greater  and  better  men,  of  whose 
heroic  actions  his  earliest  impressions  are  composed. 

We  have  heard  too  much  of  the  turbulence  of  the  Roman 
democracy  and  of  the  Augustan  virtues.  No  civil  tranquillity 
can  compensate  for  that  perpetual  submission,  not  to  laws  but 
persons,  which  must  be  required  from  the  subjects  of  the  most 
limited  monarchy.  The  citizens  of  the  worst  regulated  re- 
public must  feel  a  pride  and  may  indulge  a  hope  superior  to 
all  the  blessings  of  domestic  peace,  and  of  what  is  called  es- 
tablished order,  another  word  for  durable  servitude.  The 
struggles  for  supreme  though  temporary  power  amongst  those 
of  an  equal  condition,  give  birth  to  all  the  nobler  energies  of 
the  mind,  and  find  space  for  their  unbounded  exertion.  Un- 
der a  monarchy,  however  well  attempered,  the  chief  motive 

*  "  Nam  ex  publicis  aut  privatls  operibus  liberae  quondam  civitatis  in- 
terriipta  qusedara  et  ea  parva  vestigia  visimtur.''  De  Varietate,  fcc.  loc. 
cit^ 


128 

for  action  must  be  altogether  wanting,  or  feebly  felt,  or  cau- 
tiously encouraged.  Duties  purely  ministerial,  honours  de- 
rived from  an  individual,  may  be  meritoriously  performed, 
may  be  gracefully  worn  :  but,  as  an  object  of  ambition,  they 
are  infinitely  below  the  independent  control  of  our  fellow- 
citizens,  and  perhaps  scarcely  furnish  a  compensation  for  en- 
tire repose.  The  natural  love  of  distinction  on  any  terms 
may  push  ug  into  public  hfe  ;  but  it  palsies  our  efforts,  it  mor- 
tifies our  success,  perpetually  to  feel  that  in  such  a  career,, 
although  a  failure  is  disgraceful,  a  victory  is  inglorious  ; 

"  Vincere  inglorium — atterl  sordidum.'''' 
These  are  the  sentiments  of  Agricola  and  the  words  of  Taci- 
tus, and  bespeak  the  real  value  of  the  subordinate    dignity, 
which  is  all  that  can  be  attained  under  a  Domitian  or  under  a 
Trajan,  under  the  worst  or  under  the  best  of  princes. 

As  those  glorious  institutions  which  subdued  and  civilized 
the  world  have  long  seemed  incompatible  with  the  altered 
condition  of  mankind,  we  recur  with  the  greater  eagerness  to 
every  memorial  of  their  former  existence  :  and  hence  our  re- 
gret at  finding  so  little  of  the  early  city.  The  courtly  and 
melodious  muses  that  graced  the  first  age  of  the  monarchy 
have,  indeed,  affixed  an  imperishable  interest  to  every  site 
and  object  connected  with  their  patrons  or  their  poetry  :  and 
in  default  of  republican  relics  we  are  content  with  looking  on 
the  floorings  of  the  Esquiline  palace  and  at  the  fabric  dedicat- 
ed to  him  who  has  found  a  more  durable  monument  in  the 
verses  of  Virgil.  The  house  of  Maecenas  and  the  theatre  of 
Marcellus  can  boast  no  other  attraction. 

It  is  not  to  be  denied  but  that  by  good  fortune  the  most  vir- 
tuous of  the  Roman  Sovereigns  have  left  the  most  conspi- 
cuous monuments,  and  that  we  are  thus  perpetually  recalled  to 
an  age  in  which  mankind  are  supposed  to  have  been  more 
happy  and  content  than  during  any  other  period  of  history. 
We  may  look  at  the  Coliseum,  the  temples  of  Vespasian  and 
Antoninus,  the  arch  of  Titus  and  the  historical  columns,  with- 
out cursing  the  usurpation  of  Augustus. 

But  it  is  not  to  worship  at  the  shrine  of  the  Flavian  princes 
nor  to  do  homage  to  the  forbearance  of  Trajan,  (the  word  is 


129 

not  used  at  random,*)  or  to  the  philosophy  of  Aiirelius,  that 
we  undertake  the  pilgrimage  of  Rome.  The  men  whose 
traces  we  would  wish  to  discover  were  cast  in  another  mould, 
and  belonged  to  that  order  of  beings  whose  superior  qualities 
were  by  the  wisest  of  their  immediate  successorst  as  well  ashy 
the  slaves  of  the  last  emperors,|  acknowledged  to  have  expir- 
ed with  the  republic.  It  is  with  the  builders,  and  not  the  di- 
lapidators  of  the  Roman  race  that  we  would  hope  to  meet  in 
the  Capitol.  Our  youthful  pursuits  inspire  us  with  no  respect 
or  affection  for  this  nation  independent  of  their  republican 
virtues.  It  is  to  refresh  our  recollection  of  those  virtues  that 
we  explore  the  ruins  of  the  city  which  gave  them  birth  ;  and 
absorbed  by  an  early  devotion  for  the  patriots  of  Rome,  we 
are  indifferent  to  the  records  of  her  princes.  We  feel  no 
sympathy  with  the  survivors  of  Philippi.  We  would  prefer  a 
single  fragment  of  the  Palatine  house  of  Hortensius  or  of 
Cicero  to  all  the  lofty  ruins  which  fringe  the  imperial  hill. 

As  it  is,  we  must  visit  a  sepulchre  or  a  museum ;  must 
trust  to  one  amongst  a  range  of  doubtful  busts ;  must  unravel 
an  inscription,  and  extricate  ourselves  from  antiquarian  doubts 
before  we  are  recalled  to  the  city  of  the  Scipios,  whilst  every 
thing  around  us  attests  the  might  and  the  magnificence  of  the 
Caesars. 

*  Nvv  Si  tov  ts  oivov  Siaxopui  ttiivs,  xac  xat  vr^foA'  ip>,  iv  ft  •I'otj  ttatiSi- 
xMi  ovSsva  i%vfi*iaey.  Dion.  Hist.  Rom.  lib.  68.  torn.  ii.  p.  1125.  edit. 
Hamb.  1750-  It  may  be  recollected  why  Julian  excluded  Trajan  from 
the  banquet  of  the  Csesars. 

t  "  Postquara  bellatum  apud  Actium,  atque  omnem  potentiam  ad  unum 
confeiri  pacis  interfuit ;  magna  ilia  ingenia  cessere."  Tacit.  Hist.  lib.  i. 
cap.  i. 

X  "  Postquam  jura  ferox  in  se  communia  Caesar 
Transtulit ;  et  lapsi  mores  ;  desuetaque  priscis 
Artibus,  in  gremium  pacis  servile  recessi." 

Claud,  de  bello.  Gildonico. 


130 

Stanza  CIII. 

Metella  died, 

The  wealthiest  Roman's  infe ;  Behold  his  love  or  pride  '. 

Four  words  and  two  initials  compose  the  whole  of  the  in- 
scription, which,  whatever  was  its  ancient  position,  is  now 
placed  in  front  of  this  towering  sepulchre  : 

C.CCILIAE  .  q.  CRETICI-  F.  METfiLLAE.  CRASSI. 

It  is  more  likely  to  have  been  the  pride  than  the  love  of 
Crassus  which  raised  so  superb  a  memorial  to  a  wife  whose 
name  is  not  mentioned  in  history,  unless  she  be  supposed  to 
be  that  lady  whose  intimacy  with  Dolabella  was  so  offensive 
to  Tullia  the  daughter  of  Cicero,  or  she  who  was  divorced  by 
Lentulus  Spinther,  or  she,  perhaps  the  same  person,  from 
whose  ear  the  son  of  iEsopus  transferred  a  precious  jewel  to 
enrich  his  draught.* 

When  Mr.  Bayle  wanted  to  find  another  Roman  matron  of 
the  same  name  with  whom  to  divide  the  redundant  vices  of 
two  or  three  other  Cecilia  Metellas,  he  seems  to  have  known 
nothing  of  this  wife  of  Crassus  and  daughter  of  the  Cretic 
Metellus,  whom,  otherwise,  he  might  have  suspected  of  being 
the  counterpart  of  his  Madame  D'Olonne.t 

The  common  people  have  been  more  attentive  to  the  orna- 
ments of  the  sculptor  than  to  the  memory  of  the  matron,  for 
the  metopes  of  the  frieze,  or  a  single  ox's  head  with  the  Gae- 
tani  arms,  gave  to  this  tower  during  the  middle  ages  the  name 
of  Capo  di  Bove.J     There  appears  to  have  been  another 

*  "  Filius  ^sopi  dctractam  ex  aure  Metellse 
(Scilicet  ut  decies  solidum  exsorberet)  aceto 
Diluit  insignem  baccam. 

Hor  Sat.  Lib.  ii.  Sat-  iii.  ver.  239. 
f  Dictionnaire,  article  ^'  Metella  " 

iNardini,  lib.  iii.  cap.  iii.  appears  tasay  it  is  called  Capo  di  Bove  from 
a  single  ox's  head  sculptured  over  the  door  with  the  arms  of  the  Gaetani 
which  Echinard.  (Agro  Romano,  fcc- p.  295,)  also  notices,  but  which  the 
writer  does  not  recollect  to  have  seen. 


131 

place  of  the  same  name  near  Ostia  in  the  year  953,  un- 
less this  tomb  should  be  supposed  to  be  the  place  al- 
luded to  in  an  old  charter  of  that  date.*  It  was,  indeed, 
an  old  Roman  name ;  for  Suetonius  mentions  that  Au- 
gustus was  born  at  a  spot  in  the  Palatinate  called  ad  capita 
bubulaA 

At  what  period  the  tomb  of  Metella  was  converted  into  the 
citadel  of  a  fort  can  be  guessed  only  by  the  period  at  which 
the  monuments  in  the  city  were  occupied  by  the  nobles. 
Certain  it  is  that  the  tomb  was  put  at  once  to  this  purpose 
without  any  previous  spoliation,  and  that  the  garrison  uncon- 
cernedly dwelt  over  not  only  the  mausoleum  but  the  very  ashes 
of  Metella,  for  the  coffin  remained  in  the  interior  of  the  se- 
pulchre to  the  time  of  Paul  III.  who  removed  it  to  the  court 
of  the  Farnese  palace. J  The  Savelli  family  were  in  posses- 
sion of  the  fortress  in  1312,  and  the  German  army  of  Henry 
VII.  marched  from  Rome,§  attacked,  took,  and  burnt  it,  but 
were  unable  to  make  themselves  by  force  masters  of  the  cita- 
del, that  is,  of  the  tomb,  which  must  give  us  a  high  notion  of 
its  strength  or  of  their  weakness.  The  soldiers  of  the  tomb 
surrendered  their  post  upon  terms,  and  Henry  transferred  the 
whole  property  to  a  brother  of  John  SavelH  who  had  mari'ied 
one  of  the  Colonna,  and  who  was  to  keep  it  until  a  sum  of 
20,000  marks  due  to  the  emperor  had  been  discharged  by  the 
dispossessed  baron.  The  Gaetani  family  became  masters  of 
the  place  afterwards  :  they  raised  the  walls  which  are  still 
seen  contiguous  to  the  tomb,  and  were  part  of  their  mansion 
and  adjoining  offices.  To  their  labours  is  ascribed  the  super- 
structure, part  of  which  still  remains  on  the  top  of  the  monu- 
ment. 

*  Dissertaaone  sulla  rovine,  Sic.  p.  SSI.  note  b. 

f  In  vita  August,  cap.  v. 

^  Echinard.  agro  Romano,  ibid-  in  loc-  citat,  not. 

^  "  Unde  moti  Romani  cum  Theotonicis  ad  unum  castrum,  quod  voca- 
tur  caput  Bovis  prope  urbem  ad  duo  milliuria,  quod  castrum  erat  Domini 
Johannis  de  Sabello,  cucurrerunt,  et  castrum,  excepta  arce,  violenter  ac- 
4eperunt,  et  partem  combusserunt,"  &.c.  Sic.  Iter  Italicum.  Henrici  VII. 
Iraper.  Script.  Rer.  ItaL  torn.  ix.  p-  918. 

17 


132 

Po2frio*  saw  the  toml)  entire  when  he  first  came  to  Rome, 
but  during  his  absence  the  Tlomans  had  ground  this  noble  woi-k, 
for  the  most  part,  to  hme.  This  demohtion,  however,  must 
be  understood  only  of  the  square  basement  on  which,  hke  the 
mausoleum  of  Hadrian,  the  round  tower  was  raised.  Nor 
was  it  complete  even  of  the  basement,  which  was  not  reduced 
to  its  present  condition  until  the  time  of  Urban  VIII.,  who,  we 
have  seen,  cut  away  some  of  the  travertine  blocks  for  the 
construction  of  the  fountain  of  Trevi.t  The  destroyer  of 
the  adjoining  fortress  was  Sixtus  Quintus,  the  Hercules  of 
modern  Rome,  who  dislodged  every  Cacus  and  cleared  the 
Pontifical  states  of  their  dens. 

The  tomb  has,  indeed,  been  much  disfigured,  and  the  lower 
part  of  it  retains  only  a  few  jutting  blocks  of  its  former 
structure  ■,  but  it  is  still  amongst  the  most  conspicuous  of  the 
Roman  ruins,  and  Mr.  Gibbon  must  have  been  strangely  for- 
getful of  what  he  had  seen  when  he  wrote  "  The  Sepulchre  of 
Mddla  has  simk  under  its  outioorks.^''X  On  the  contrary,  it  is 
the  sepulchre  which  remains  and  the  outworks  which  have 

*  "  Juxta  Viam  Appiam  ad  secundum  lapidem  integrum  vidi  sepul- 
chrum  Q.  Caecilia;  IMetella?,  opus  egrcgium,  et  id  tot  scculis  intactum,  ad 
calcem  postea  majore  ex  parte  exterrainatum."  De  Fortunae  Varietate, 
p,  508.  loc.  cit. 

f  See  note  on  Stanza  Ixxx. 

X  Decline  and  Fall,  cap.  Ixxi.  p.  415,  torn,  xii-  To  this  he  has  the  fo^- 
lowing  note  :  "  I  must  copy  an  important  passage  of  Montfaucon  :  Tur- 
ns ingens  rotunda Cjeciliffi  Metellae sepulchrum  erat,  cujus 

muritam  solid!  ut  spatium  perquam  minimum  intus  vacuum  supersit;  et 
Torre  di  bove  dicitur,  a  boum  capitibus  muro  inscriptis.  Huic,  sequiori 
sevo,  tempore  intestinorum  bellorum,  ceii  urbecula  adjuncta  fuit,  cujus 
mcenia  et  turres  etiamnum  visuntur  ;  ita  ut  sepulchrum  Metellce  quasi  arx 
oppiduli  fui'i-it.  FerVentibus  in  urbe  paitibus,  cum  Ursini  atque  Colum- 
nenses  mutuis  cladibus  perniciem  infeirent  civitati,  in  utriusve  partis  diti- 
onem  cederet  magni  moment!  erat."  This  passage,  which  the  reader  will 
find  in  the  Diarium  Italicum,  p.  15G,  surely  need  not  have  been  ushered 
in  with  such  solemnity,  as  if  it  related  a  fact  to  be  collected  no  where  else 
than  in  Montfaucon,  or  as  if  the  occupation  of  Roman  monuments  by 
the  factions  was  to  be  seen  only  at  this  tomb.  Nothing  remarkable  is 
told  by  Montfaucon  except  the  fact  contradicted  by  the  passage  to  which 
this  note  is  appended,  namely,  that  there  ivas  a  great  tower  which  had  been 
the  sepulchre  of  Metella,  consequently  that  the  said  sepulchre  had  not 
•'  sunk  under  its  outworka." 


133 

sunk.  The  feeble  labours  of  puny  modern  nerves  are  fast 
crumbling  round  the  massive  fabric  which  seems  to  promise  an 
existence  as  long  as  the  period  of  its  former  duration. 

It  must  seem  singular  that  so  little  should  be  known  of  the 
two  persons  whose  tombs  were  to  survive  those  of  so  many 
illustrious  names.  Cestius  is  as  little  famous  as  Metella,  and 
his  pyramid  is  no  less  conspicuous  than  her  tower.  Oblivion, 
however,  has  been  kind  perhaps  to  one  who  has  left  no  other 
present  to  posterity  than  this  ambitious  sepulchre  ;  if,  as  there 
is  some  reason  to  suspect,  this  Cestius,  Tribune  of  the  peo- 
ple, Praetor,  and  a  Septimvir,  is  the  same  Cestius,  a  Praetor, 
and  flatterer  of  the  Augustan  court,  who  was  publicly 
scourged  by  the  order  of  Marcus  Cicero,  the  son,  for  presum- 
ing to  defame  his  father  in  his  presence.* 

A  learned  person  who  wrote  a  dissertation  on  this  pyramid 
and  disproved  the  mistake  of  Panvinius  in  supposing  Cestius 
to  be  the  consul  of  that  name  mentioned  in  the  annals  of  Ta- 
citus,! asserts  that  there  is  a  total  silence  with  respect  to 
him  in  all  ancient  authors,  but  that  he  must  have  died  at  least 
as  early  as  the  middle  of  the  reign  of  Augustus. |  The  Ces- 
tius above  mentioned  did  not  suggest  himself  to  the  antiquary, 
and  perhaps  may  be  the  man  we  want. 

Stanza  CVII. 

For  nil  that  Learning  reaped 
From  her  research  hath  been,  that  these  are  ivalls — 
Behold  the  Imperial  Mount !  "tis  thus  the  mighty  falls- 

The  troops  of  Genserick  occupied  the  Palatine  and  de- 
spoiled it  of  all  its  riches. §  The  ruin  of  the  structures  them- 
selves is  involved  in  the  most  impenetrable  obscurity :  nor 
have  the  immense  masses  which  remain,  assisted,  though  they 
stimulated,  research.     Theodoric  found  their  beauty  admira- 

*  M.  Seneca.     Suasor.  6. 

■)■  Lib.  vi.  cap.  31. 

X  "  Altissimum  enim  de  illo  apud  scriptores  veteres  silentiura  est." 
Octavii  Falconerii,  de  pyraraide  C.  Cestii  Epulonis.  dissertatio  ap.  Gtxy. 
Antiq.  Roman,  torn.  iv.  p.  1475. 

^  Sidoi>.  ApoUon.    See — note  to  Stanza  Ixxx. 


134 

ble,*  but  impaired  by  age.  From  that  moment  the  palace  of 
the  Cassars  disappears,  and  the  labours  of  the  antiquary  have 
been  unable  to  produce  more  than  a  single  word  to  show  that 
it  was  not  ruined  by  Totila,  which  is  the  general  persuasion. 

Anastasius,  in  the  life  of  Pope  Constantine,  who  was  elected 
in  708,  narrating  a  civil  commotion  which  took  place  in  Rome 
against  the  emperor  Philip,  has  these  words  :  "  And  it  came 
to  pass  that  whilst  Christopher,  who  was  duke,  was  con- 
tending on  this  account  with  Agatho  and  his  followers,  a  civil 
war  arose,  so  that  they  came  to  arms  in  the  sacred  way  before 
the  palaee.''''\  What  a  fate  !  The  palace  may  have  been  a 
fragment,  or,  as  it  now  is,  a  word. 

When  the  Palatine  again  rises,  it  rises  in  ruins.  A  corner 
of  the  structures  had  served  to  lodge  the  Frangipane  family. 
The  Turris  Cartularia  included  a  portion  of  the  Palatine 
mansions  and  the  arch  of  Titus. J  It  was  thrown  down  in 
1240  by  Gregory  IX.,  was  rebuilt,  and  shortly  after  destroyed 
by  the  people. 

The  pilgrim  of  the  thirteenth  century  who  talks  of  the  im- 
perial palace  must  be  alluding  to  sites,  not  buildings.  In  the  be- 
ginning of  the  fifteenth  century  there  was  not  a  single  edifice 
standing  on  the  whole  mount  except  the  church  of  St*  Nicho- 
las, built  by  Pope  Calixtus,§  which  was  itself  in  ruins. 

The  Farnese  family  were  ambitious  of  a  summer  house  in 
the  imperial  precincts.  They  levelled,  they  built,  and  they 
planted;  Michael  Angelo  designed,  RaflTael  painted,  and  the 

*"  Quando  pulchritiido  ilia  mirabilis,  si  subinde  non  refichur,  senectute 
obrepente  vitiatur."  Cassiod.  Variar.  lib.  vii.  epist.  v. 

■f  "  Et  factum  est  dum  Christophorus,  qui  erat  Dux,  obhanc  causam 
cum  Agathone  etsuis  honiiuibus  concertarent,  bellura  civile  exhortum  est, 
ita  ut  ill  via  sacra  ante  palatium  sese  committerent,"  fee.  De  Vitis  Roman. 
Poiilit'.  ap.  Script.  Rer.  Ital.  torn.  iii.  p.  153. 

{  It  was  one  of  the  strong;  houses  of  the  Frangipane  to  which  Pope 
Innocent  11.  retrealed  in  II 58  in  his  struggles  with  the  anti-pope  Anaclete 
II.  See — Oniipli-  Panvinius  de  gente  Fregepanica-  ap.  Marangoni,  Delle 
memorie  sacre  e  profane  dell'  Anfileatro  Flavio.  Roma,  1746.  p.  31,  52. 
edit    171(5      Alexand'M- III.  also  retired  thither  in  1167 

^  "  Multn  auiem  pauciora  habet  integra  Palatinus  mons  quam  Capito- 
linus  aut  Aventiniis,  nam  prjeter  S.  Nicolai  ecclesiam  a  Calixto  Papa 
acdific.itam,  i|use  et  male  iritegra  cernitur  nullum  is  cdeberrinius  moas 
habet  aidificium."    Flav.  Blond-  Roraa.  Inst.  lib.  i.  fo.  11. 


13^ 

?iasterpieces  of  ancient  culspture,  statues,  reliefs,  and  colour- 
ed marbles,  were  drawn  from  beneath  the  ruins  of  Caracalla's 
baths  and  of  the  Flavian  amphitheatre  for  the  embellishment 
of  the  rising  villa.  Following  antiquaries,  from  Donatus*  to 
Venutijt  were  pleased  to  remark  that  these  peopled  gardens 
had  succeeded  to  the  solitude  of  the  long  neglected  hill. 
The  extinction  or  aggrandizement  of  the  Farnese  dukes  strip- 
ped this  retreat  as  well  as  the  palace  of  the  family  of  all  its 
treasures. I  Naples  was  again  fated  to  be  enriched  by  the 
plunder  of  Rome.  The  Palatine  villa  was  abandoned,  and 
in  less  than  half  a  century§  has  fallen  to  the  ground.  The 
naked  fountain  and  twisted  steps  of  Michael  Angelo,  and  the 
cockle-shell  incrusted  walls,  form  a  singular  contrast  with  the 
lofty  arcades  on  the  Cagsarean  side. 

The  Palatine  was  never  entirely  covered  with  structures ; 
apace  must  be  left  for  gardens,  for  a  manege,  and  for  a  hip- 
podrome.||  Antiquaries,  to  prove  the  latter,  have  been 
obliged  to  have  recourse  to  the  acts  of  the  martyrs,  but  there 
are  evident  signs  of  the  Course  in  one  of  the  gardens.  There 
are  abundant  materials  for  dispute  in  the  masses  of  the  pa- 
lace, which  cased  the  whole  hill  in  brick  work,  and  of  the 
many  temples  which  lodged  the  gods  that  watched  over  the 
Emperor.**  A  view  of  the  Palatine  ruins,  in  Paul  V.'s  time,tt 
marks  a  temple  of  Orcus,  a  temple  of  Cybele,  a  temple  of 
Heliogabalus,  to  all  which  other  names  have  succeeded  with 
equal  authority.     The  precise  details  of  Bianchini,|J  who 


*  *'  Nunc  tanta  molis  vel  suis  obruta  minis  est ;  vel  parietibus  ac  porti- 
«ibus  informis  vel  transiit  in  amsenitatem  Farnesiorum  hortorum."  Do- 
nat.  lib.  iii.  cap.  ii. 

f  Roma  moderna,  kc.  Rione  xii-  torn.  ii.  p.  396. 

X  The  great  Campo  Fiore  palace  is  much  neglected ;  it  requires  a 
princely  court  to  occupy  it,  and  the  Neapolitan  ambassador  is  lost  in  one 
of  the  suites  of  one  of  the  stories  of  one  of  the  sides  of  the  vast  square. 

5^  Venuti,  (ibid,)  seems  to  have  seen  it  enfire. 

II  St.  Sebastian  was  shot  with  arrows,  as  we  see  in  so  many  fine  pic- 
tures, in  the  hippodrome  of  the  palace. 

**  See  quotation  from  Claud,  in  vi.  Cons.  Honor,  in  note  to  Stanza 
Ixxx.  Nardini,  lib.  vi.  cap.  xiii.  and  xiv.  reckons  nineteen  at  least. 

ft  Vedute  degli  antichi  vestigj,  kc.    See  note  to  Stanza  Ixxx. 

It  Palazzo  de'  Cesari. 


136 

dissected  the  soil  and  assigned  to  all  the  ruins  above  and  be- 
low their  distinct  character  and  function,  have  retained  few 
believers  even  amongst  the  Romans.  A  subterranean  cell, 
in  the  vineyard  of  the  Farnese  gardens,  still  preserves  the 
name  of  the  Baths  of  Livia,  for  some  reason  not  apparent  in 
the  construction  or  site.  The  King  of  Naples  has  kindly  not 
stripped  off  all  the  arabesques,  but  left  a  portion  to  show  how 
the  whole  apartments  were  once  adorned.  These  paintings 
do  not  suffer  so  much  from  the  oozing  of  the  saltpetre  as  when 
exposed  to  the  external  air,  as  they  have  found  in  the  open 
chambers  of  the  Baths  of  Titus.  The  gilding  preserves  its 
freshness,  and  the  outlines  their  edge,  and  seem  liable  to  no 
injury  but  from  the  torches  of  the  guides. 

Several  blocks  of  sculptured  marble  above  the  ruins  of  the 
summer  house,  are  honoured  with  the  name  of  the  Palatine 
Apollo.  Of  this  temple,  an  early  topographer  thought  he  saw 
some  vestiges  overlooking  the  Circus  Maximus  on  the  other 
side  of  the  hill. 

A  contiguous  portion  of  the  Palatine  is  occupied  by  the 
kitchen  gardens  and  vineyards  of  the  Casino  Spada,  or  Mag- 
nani,  which  the  pretended  frescoes  of  Raphael  have  not  pre- 
served from  ruin.  Half  a  century  ago  a  tower  looking  over 
the  site  of  the  Circus  Maximus,  and  which  made  part  of  the 
Ca3sarean  palace,  was  restored.  But  the  curse  of  Jerusalem 
hangs  over  this  hill — it  is  again  in  ruins.  In  this  quarter  is 
shown  a  suite  of  subterranean  chambers,  usually  denominated 
the  Baths  of  Nero  ;  for  this  Emperor  being  a  great  builder, 
is  generally  called  in  to  father  all  unknown  remains.  An 
Englishman  excavated  these  chambers  in  1777,  and  the 
ground  of  the  villa  is  now  at  the  disposal  of  any  one  who 
chooses  to  pay  a  very  moderate  sum  for  so  imperial  a  pur- 
chase, and  the  pleasure  of  experiments. 

The  Palatine,  it  has  been  remarked,  has,  no  less  than  the 
valleys,  been  encumbered  with  accumulated  soil.  These 
chambers  were  surely  above  ground.  No  descent  to  them 
was  discovered,  but  has  been  since  constructed. 

The  next  garden  and  vineyard,  for  so  the  Palatine  is  now 
divided,  is  in  possession  of  the  Irish  college,  and  some  rustic 
or  playful  antiquaries  had.  in  1817,  chalked  upon  the  g^ate- 


137 

way,  "  The  Hippodrome,  the  Temple  of  Apollo,  the  house  of 
the  Vestals.''''  The  shape  of  the  vineyard  does  not  resemble 
a  place  for  equestrian  exercises.  Apollo  and  the  Vestals  may 
be  lodged  at  will  in  any  of  the  towering  vaults  or  under- 
ground crypts  of  these  enormous  masses. 

You  may  explore  for  hours  either  above  or  below,  through 
the  arched  corridores,  or  on  the  platforms  whose  stuccoed 
floorings  have  resisted  a  thousand  winters,  and  serve  as  a 
roof  to  the  ruins  beneath.     From  the  corner  of  this  platform 
there  is  one  of  the  most  impressive  views  of  the  Coliseum 
and  the  remains  of  the  old  city,  both  within  and  without  the 
walls.     The  long  lines  of  aqueducts  stretched  across  the  bare 
campagna,  are  the  arms  of  the  fallen  giant.     The  look  of 
these  great  structures,    built   for  some   purpose   which  the 
shrunk  condition  of  the  modern  city  did  not  render  apparent, 
made  a  Roman  of  the  fifteenth  century  call  them  insane* 
Your  walks  in  the  Palatine  ruins,  if  it  be  one  of  the  many 
days  when  the  labourers  do  not  work,  will  be  undisturbed, 
unless  you  startle  a  fox  in  breaking  through  the  brambles  in 
the  corridores,  or  burst  unawares  through  the  hole  of  some 
shivered  fragments  into  onfe    of  the   half  buried  chambers 
which  the  peasants  have  blocked  up  to  serve  as  stalls  for  their 
jackasses,  or  as  huts  for  those  who  watch  the  gardens.     The 
smoke  of  their  wood  fires  has  not  hidden  the  stuccoes  and 
deeply  indented  mouldings  of  the  imperial  roofs.     The  soil 
accumulated  in  this  quarter  has  formed  a  slope  on  the  side  of 
the  ruins,  and  some  steps  have  been  adjusted  into  the  bank. 
Half  way  up  an  open  oratory  has  been  niched  into  a  wall. 

Religion  is  still  triumphant  after  the  fall  of  the  palace  of 
the  Caesars,  the  towers  of  feudal  lords,  and  the  villas  of  pa- 
pal princes.  The  church  and  contiguous  monastery  of  St. 
Bonaventura,  preserve  a  spark  of  life  upon  the  site  of  the 
town  of  Romulus.  The  only  lane  which  crosses  the  Pala- 
tine, leads  to  this  church  between  dead  walls,  where  the  sta- 
tions of  the  via  crucis  divert  the  attention  from  the  fall  of  the 
Caesars,  to  the  sublimer  and  more  humiliating  sufl'erings  of 
God  himself.     The  tall  fragments  of  the  imperial  ruins  rising 

*  "  Celsos  fornices  et  insana  acquseductornm  opera  perlustrans,"  F. 
Blond.  Roma.  Inst.  lib.  iii.  fo.  3.  if  he  did  not  mean  broken. 


138 

from  a  hill,  which  seems  one  wide  field  of  crossed  and  trel- 
lised  reeds  hung  round  with  vines,  form  the  most  striking  por- 
tion of  the  prospect  of  the  old  town,  seen  from  the  platform 
of  St.  Pietro  in  Montorio,  or  the  other  eminences  beyond 
the  Tiber.  They  are  so  thickly  strewn,  and  so  massive,  that 
it  is  not  surprising  the  inhabitants  of  the  rising  town  chose 
rather  to  seek  for  other  sites,  than  to  attempt  to  clear  them 
away.  But  they  are  not  without  their  use,  for  the  flagging 
vapours  of  the  malaria  are  supposed  to  settle  round  their 
summits,  as  well  as  those  of  the  Coliseum,  and  thus  to  spare 
the  modern  city. 

Where  all  repair  has  been  hopeless,  the  descendants  of 
those  who  reared  these  mighty  fabrics  have  converted  the  de- 
solation of  the  ancient  city  to  the  purposes  of  other  havoc. 
They  scrape  the  old  walls  of  the  Palatine,  as  well  as  those 
of  the  Baths  of  Titus,  for  saltpetre,  of  which  a  manufacture 
has  been  established  in  both  those  positions ;  and  thus,  if  the 
phrase  may  be  used,  ruin  begets  ruin,  destruction  propagates 
destruction. 

Stanza  CX. 
—  and  apostolic  statues  climb 


To  crush  the  imperial  urn,  whose  ashes  lay  subMme,  fye. 

Sixtus  Quintus  raised  the  statue  of  St.  Peter  on  the  sum- 
mit of  the  column  of  Trajan.  A  liberty  has,  in  the  above 
verses,  been  taken  with  the  probable  position  of  the  urn  of 
Trajan,  in  compliance  with  a  tradition,  that  the  ashes  of  that 
emperor  were  in  the  head  of  a  spear,  which  the  colossal  statue 
raised  on  the  pillar,  held  in  his  hand.*  But  the  remains  of 
Trajan  were  buried  in  a  golden  urn  under  the  column,!  and 

*  A.  medal  of  Vespasian  has  been  found  with  a  column  surmounted  by 
an  urn.  See — Joseph.  Castalionis,  de  colum.  triump.  comment,  ap.  Grffiv. 
Antiq.  Rom.  torn.  iv.  p.  1947. 

t  To  be  fov  Tpaioww  data  h  tip  xiot-t  dvtov  xattte^tj.  Dion.  Hist. 
Rom.  lib.  69.  torn.  ii.  p.  1 150  edit.  Harab.  1750.  "  Sunt  qui  in  pila,  quam 
tenebat  Colossus,  cineres  conditos  dicunt :  quo  fundamento  adhuc  re- 
quiro."  See  Comment,  to  lib-  Ixviii.  tom.  ii.  p.  1188,  of  the  Xylandro- 
Leunclavian  version. 

"  Ossa  in  urna  aurea  coUocata  sub  Columna  Fori  quae  ejus  oomine 


139 

continued  in  that  depository  in  the  time  of  Theodoric.  The 
value  of  the  um  was  sure  to  be  fatal  to  the  deposite  ;  but  we 
know  nothing  of  the  time  when  poverty  and  rapine  had  lost 
all  respect  for  the  remains  of  the  best  of  the  Roman  princes. 
An  absurd  story,  which  was  current  in  the  English  churches 
in  the  ninth  century,  would  make  us  suppose  that  the  Chris- 
tians condescended  to.  except  Trajan  from  the  usual  con- 
demnation of  pagans,  and  that  Gregory  the  Great,  in  passing 
through  the  Forum,  was  moved  to  compassion  for  the  emperor 
in  purgatory,  and  prayed  for  and  liberated  his  soul.*  The 
diminished  charity  of  future  zeal  induced  Bellarmine  and  the 
graver  writers  to  reject  this  narration  as  a  putid  fable,  and, 
for  the  best  of  reasons,  since  St.  Gregory  himself,  in  the 
fourth  book  of  his  Dialogues,  (cap.  44.)  has  declared,  "  that 
we  should  not  pi"ay  for  the  devil  and  his  angels  reserved  for 
eternal  punishment,  nor  for  infidels,  nor  the  impious  de- 
funct."! The  report,  hov/cvcr,  of  Gregory's  biographers 
must  make  us  think  that  the  ashes  had  not  yet  been  removed 
from  the  column,  for  if  they  had,  it  might  have  been  forgot- 
ten, as  at  present,  that  this  monument  was  ever  a  place  of 
lepulture. 

vocitatur,  recondita  sunt,  cujus  columnae  altitudo  in  140  pedes  erigitur." 
Cassiod,  iu  Chronic,  p.  388.  torn.  i.  fo.  1679.  Cassiodorus  must  be 
reckoned  good  authority  for  what  he  tells  of  the  Rome  which  he  saw, 
although  his  chronicle  from  the  beginning  of  the  world  to  the  year  519, 
must  be  expected  to  be  rather  inaccurate.  For  a  character  of  this  writer, 
and  for  the  question  whether  there  were  not  two  Cassiodoruses,  father 
and  son,  to  whom  the  actions  of  the  one  should  be  attributed,  see — 
Tiraboschi  Storia  della  Lett.  Ttal.  torn.  iii.  lib.  i.  cap.  i. 

*  Tl)e  story  is  told  by  Paul  the  Deacon,  and  by  John  the  Deacon  ;  the 
latter  says  he  heard  it  in  some  English  churches.  See  note  to  Stanza 
Ixxx. 

f  "  Docet  orandum  non  esse  pro  diabolo,  angelisque  ejus  setemo  sup- 
plicio  deputatis,  neque  pro  infidelibus  hominibus  impiisque  defunctis." 
See — Dissertat.  v.  de  Romanis  Imperatorib.  ap.  lo.  Laurent.  Berti.  Histor. 
Ecclesi.  fcc.  torn.  ii.  p.  72.  Bassani.  1769. 

Tiraboschi  laughs  at  John  of  Salisbury  for  telling  the  story  of  Trajan's 
liberation  from  hell  by  Gregory  ;  but  he  praises  John  the  Deacon,  who 
had  not  mentioned  the  burning  of  the  Palatine  library  by  the  Pontiff, 
forgetting  that  John  had  told  the  story  about  Trajan.  Storia  della  Ictt. 
Ital.  torn.  iii.  lib.  ii.  p.  106  and  111. 

18 


J  40 

The  Romans  having  performed  one  grelt  work,  chose  t» 
commemorate  it  hy  another.  The  stranger,  at  the  first  sight 
of  the  column,  naturally  expects  to  find  that  the  inscription 
will  refer  to  the  virtues,  or  at  least  the  victories,  of  the 
prince  whose  exploits  are  sculptured  upon  it,  but  he  reads 
only  that  the  pillar  was  raised  to  show  how  much  of  the  hill, 
and  to  what  height,  had,  with  infinite  labour,  been  cleared 
away.*  The  historian  Dion  shows  he  can  never  have  read  this 
simple  inscription,  when  he  says  that  the  column  was  raised 
by  Trajan,  ^'partly  for  a  sepulchre,  as  well  as  for  an  evi- 
dence of  the  labour  with  which  the  Forum  was  made.t" 
The  first  object  does  not  appear  to  have  been  entertained  by 
Trajan  or  the  senate.  No  emperor  had  been  buried  within 
the  city,  and  it  was  Hadrian  who  transferred  his  predecessor'? 
bones  to  this  unusual  and  conspicuous  position. 

The  Forum  of  Trajan  served,  amongst  other  purposes,  to 
perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  good  and  great,  or  of  such  as, 
in  those  declining  ages,  could  pretend  to  that  distinction. 
But,  lest  there  should  be  any  want  of  subjects,  young  men  of 
great  promise,  who  had  died  in  the  flower  of  their  age, 
were  honoured  with  a  statue. t  We  know  that  Marcus 
Aurelius  erected  statues  in  this  Forum  to  all  those  who  fell  in 
the  German  war,  and  that  Alexander  Severus  transferred 
thither  those  of  other  celebrated  personages  from  other  sites  : 
amongst  them  was  one  of  Augustus,  ex  electro,  and  another 
of  Nicomedes,  in  ivory. §  The  same  place  was  devoted  to 
the  labours  and  the  rewards  of  literary  heroes :  here  the 
poets  and  others  recited  their  compositions,  perhaps  in  the 
Ulpian  library,  whose  treasures  were  transferred  by  Diocletian 
to  his  own  Thermae  ;  and  here  their  images  were  allowed  a 
place  amongst  conquerors  and  monarchs.    The  prefect  Aure- 

*  Senatus,  Populusque  Romanus 

Imp.  Caes.  Divi.  Nervse.  F.  Trajano.  Aug.  Germa 

nico.  Dacico.  Pont.  Max.  Trlb.  Pot-  XII.  Cos.  XI.  P.  P. 

Ad.  Declarandum.  Quantae.  Altitudinis. 

Mons.  Et.  Locus.  Tan-  \tis.  operi  or  ruderi]  bus.  Sit.  Egestus. 

*  "A^ua  fiiv  is  •ta^'^ii  somf  9  aifia  Si  cli  irtiSsf^iv  tov  xata  t^v  dyopav  ?pytf». 
X.  t.  %.     Hist.  Rora.  lib.  68.  p.  1133.  torn.  ii. 

X  Plin.  lib.  ii.  epist.  vii. 

k  E«seb.  in  Chronic.  Lamprld.  in  vit  Sever.  Nardini,  lib.  v.  cap.  ix. 


J4I 

lius  Symmachus,  whom  his  cotcmporaries  thought  superior  to 
Tally,*  Claudian,  and  Aurelius  Victor,  were,  we  may  sus- 
pect, the  most  worthy  ornaments  of  the  Forum.  But  the 
honours  of  the  statue  were  conferred  on  inferior  personages  : 
Sidonius  Apollinaris,t  Marius  Victorinus,  the  schoolmaster, 
Proaeresius,  the  king  of  eloquence,  we  know  were  there,| 
and  these  may  have  been  associated  with  the  meaner  names  of 
Minervius,  Sedatus,  and  Palladius,  with  iElius  Donatus,  with 
Nonius  Marcellus  of  Tivoli,  Sextus  Pompeius  Festus,  Ser- 
vius  the  commentator,  Praetextatus  the  friend  of  Macrobius, 
and  that  more  valuable  writer  himself.  There  also  may  have 
been  seen,  Eutropius,  the  lost  historians  Flavins  Dexter,  and 
Nicomachus  Flavianus,§  the  almost  unknown  Optatian,  and 
Perphinius.  Even  in  the  Gothic  reigns,  the  custom  of  raising 
statues,  at  least  to  princes,  appears  to  have  prevailed.  Men- 
tion is  made  by  Procopius  of  statues  of  Theodoric,  and 
Theodatus,  and  Justinian,  and  it  is  probable  these  might  have 
been  in  the  Forum  of  Trajan.§  The  sight  of  this  Forum 
would  furnish  a  singular  supplement  to  ancient  history,  and 
rescue  from  oblivion  many  who  were  as  much  the  delight  and 
admiration  of  their  cotcmporaries  as  Cicero  or  Virgil. 

Fragments  of  statues  and  pedestals  were  dug  up  in  the 
great  excavation,  but  only  five  inscriptions,  of  which  four 
were  copies  of  each  other  and  in  honour  of  Trajan, ||   were 

*        cui  cedat  et  ipse 

Tulliiis.  Prudent. 

f  Carmina,  7  and  8. 

X  "  Regina  rerutn  Roma  Regi  Eloquentiae."  So  tlie  inscription  ran. 
Eunap.  in  vit.  Sophist  1.  8- 

^  Cecina  Decius  and  Albinus,  the  regionarics,  the  authors  of  the  Tables 
of  Peutinger  and  the  Antonine  Itineraries,  and  other  writers,  have  been 
enumerated  by  the  industry  of  Fabricius,  Bib-  Lat. 

<:j  De  Bello  Gothico,  lib.  i.  cap.  2 4.     Here  Procopius  names  the  Forum 
as  the  place  where  the  miraculous  mosaic  image  of  Theodoric  was  raised, 
and  fell  to  pieces  gradually  with  the  Gothic  kingdom  ;  the  head  with 
Theodoric,  the  belly  with  Theodatus,  and  the  lower  parts  with  Amala- 
suntha  ;  but  in  lib.  iii.  cap.  xx  other  statues  are  mentioned. 
II  Senatus,  Populusque  Romanus 
Imp.  Cajsari.  Divi 
N<'rva\  F.  Norv=p 


142 

discovered  by  the  labourers.  The  first  of  these,  however, 
coftfirms  the  above  remark,  and  has  for  the  first  time  intro- 
duced to  the  modern  world  Flavins  Merobaudes,*  a  person 
whose  merits  were  of  the  most  exalted  description,  and,  so 
they  thought  in  the  days  of  Theodosius  and  Valentinian,  com- 
parable to  the  most  extraordinary  characters  of  antiquity. 

It  may  have  been  seen  from  former  remarks,  that  at  an 
early  period,  which  cannot  exactly  be  fixed,  the  Forum  of 
Trajan,  the  noblest  structure  of  all  Rome,  had  partaken  of 
the  general  desolation.  From  the  moment  we  find  a  church 
there,  we  may  be  sure  the  destruction  had  begun.  This  was 
as  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century,  and  as  that 
church  was  probably  built  not  on  the  ancient  flooring,  the  soil 
had  already  buried  the  ground  plan  of  the  Forum.    The  three 

Trajano.  Augusto 
Germanico.  Dacico 
Pontif.  Max.  Tribunicia 


Potest.  XVI.  Imp.  VI.  cos.  VI.  PP. 

Optime  de  Republica 

Merito.  Domi  Forisque. 
*  Fl.  Merobaudi  aeque  forti  et  docto  viro  tarn  facere 
Laudanda  quam  aliorum  facta  laudare  preecipuo 
Castrensi  experientia  claro  facundia  vel  otiosonim 
Studla  supergresso  cui  a  crepundiis  par  virtutis  et  elo 
Qiientiaj  cura  ingenium  ita  fortitudini  ut  doctrinae 
Natum  stilo  et  gjadio  pariter  exercuit.     Nee  in  umbra 
Vel  latebris  mentis  vigorem  scholari  tantum  otio 
Torpere  passus.     Inter  arma  litteris  militabat 
Et  in  Alpibus  acuebat  eloquium,  ideo  illi  cessit  in  prsemium. 
Non  verbena  vilis  nee  otiosa  liedera  honor  capitis 
Heliconius  sed  imago  sere  formata  quo  rari  exempli 
Viros  seu  in  castris  probatos  seu  optimos  vatum 
Antiquitas  honorabat  quod  huic  quoque  cum 
Augustissirais  Roma  Principibus 
Theodosio  et  Placido  Valentiniano  Rerum  Dominis 
In  Foro  Ulpio  detulerunt  remunerantes  in  viro 
Antiquag  nobilitatis  nova;  glorise  vel  industriam 
Militarem  vel  carmen  cujus  preeconio  gloria 
Triumphali  crevit  imperio. 

Dedicata  III.  Cal.  Aug.  Coiiss.  ^D  .  NNT 
Theodosio  XV.  et  Valentiniano.  IIII. 


143 

churches,  and  the  three  towers  raised  by  Boniface  VIII.,  as 
well  as  the  two  hundred  houses  which  were  levelled  with  the 
ground  by  Paul  III.  in  1536,  were  on  the  modern  level,  and 
as  their  date  must  have  gone  back  to  the  foundation  of  the 
churches,  we  may  fairly  pronounce  that  long  previously  to  the 
twelfth  century  the  base  of  the  Quirinal  had  begun  to  assume 
its  ancient  form  ere  it  had  been  cleared  away  by  the  subjects 
of  Trajan. 

Paul  III.  opened  the  base  of  the  column,*  and  in  the  time 
of  Flaminius  Vacca,  an  arch  was  dug  from  underground,  per- 
haps in  the  pontificate  of  the  same  pope,  and  the  flooring  of 
the  Forum  was  discovered,  but  immediately  shut  up  again.! 
The  late  excavation  enables  us  at  last  to  tread  the  floor  of  an- 
cient Rome.  The  replacing  the  fragments  of  the  columns  on 
their  bases,  and  the  judicious  arrangement  of  the  other  mar- 
bles, has  created  an  effect  little  inferior  to  the  wonders  of 
Pompej.  The  stranger  must  be  much  struck  with  the  massive 
Greek  dimensions  of  the  fragments,  when  compared  with  the 
space  in  which  so  many  buildings  were  raised. |  Here  we  have 
a  forum  with  its  porticos,  and  statues,  and  tribunals  ;  a  basi- 
lica, with  a  double  internal  portico  on  every  side  ;  a  quadran- 
gular court,  or  atrium,  also  adorned  with  enormous  columns  ; 
two  libraries  ;  a  triumphal  arch ;  the  great  column  and  the 
portion  of  a  temple,  crowded  into  a  space  not  so  considera- 
ble as  one  of  our  smallest  London  squares.  Whatever  the 
earth  covered  of  these  magnificent  structures  is  now  exposed 
to  view,  and  the  remnants  are  sufficient  to  show  what  must  be 
the  subterranean  riches  of  Rome.  We  may  find  it  difficult  to 
account  for  there  being  so  much  or  so  little   left.     Buildings 

*  See  note  to  Stanza  Ixxx.  pag.  104. 

]  Memorie,  ap.  Montfaucon.  Diar-  Ital.  p.  187. 

X  The  giant  texture  of  the  Forum,  the  work  of  Apollodorus,  struck 
Constantius  dumb  with  astonishment.  "  Verum  cum  ad  Trajani  forum 
venisset  singularem  sub  omni  ccelo  structuram,  ut  opinar  etiam  numinum 
assentione  mirabilem,  hserebat  attonitus,  per  giganteos  contextus  cir- 
cumferens  mentem  nee  relatu  ineffabiles,  nee  rursus  raortalibus  appeten- 
dos."  Amm.  Marcel,  lib.  xvi.  cap.  x.  p.  145.  Cassiodorus  calls  it  a  mi- 
racle. It  was  doubtless  altogether  the  most  extraordinary  object  in 
Rome.  "  Trajani  forum  vel  sub  assiduitate  videre  miraculum  est."  Lib. 
vii.  p.  1 13.  edit.  1679. 


I 


144 

composed  of  columns  were  certain  to  be  soon  despoiled  for 
the  service  of  modern  edifices  :  but  the  flooring  and  some  of 
the  many  fragments  are  so  perfect  as  to  make  the  sudden  bu- 
rial of  these  parts  of  the  city  more  probable  than  the  gradual 
decay.  The  bronze  statues  had,  however,  been  previously 
removed,  if  such  an  accident  did  overwhelm  the  Forum,  for 
none  were  found.  The  head  of  the  colossal  statue  of  Tra- 
jan was  extant  in  the  sixteenth  century.* 

Stanza  CXII. 

Where  is  the  rock  of  Triumph,  the  high  place 
Where  Rome  embraced  her  heroes  ?   whei-e  the  sleep 
Tarpeian  ? 

Ruin  and  restoration  have  entirely  effaced  every  vestige  of 
the  domicil  of  all  the  gods.  The  greatest  uncertainty  hangs 
over  this  hill.  On  which  side  stood  the  citadel,  on  which  the 
grestt  temple  of  the  Capitol — and  did  the  temple  stand  in  the 
citadel  ?t  Read  every  thing  that  has  been  written  on  the  to- 
pography of  a  spot  four  hundred  yards  in  length,  and  two 
hundred  in  breadth,  and  you  will  know  nothing.  Four  tem- 
ples, fifteen  chapels  (aedes,)  three  altars,  the  great  rock,  a 
fortress,  a  library,  an  athenaeum,  an  area  covered  with  sta- 
tues, the  enrolment  office,  all  these  are  to  be  arranged  in  the 
above  space  :  and  of  these  the  last  only  can  be  with  precision 
assigned  to  the  double  row  of  vaults  corroded  with  salt,  where 
the  inscription  of  Catulus  was  discovered.  The  Athenaeum 
perhaps  may  have  been  where  the  prisons  and  senator's  pa- 
lace now  stand.  The  Tarpeian  rock  is  divided,  by  the  beg- 
gars who  inhabit  the  cottages,  between  the  two  angles  to- 
wards the  Tiber  ;  the  highest  is  that  called  Monte  Caprino, 
behind  the  gallery  of  the  Conservators'  palace,  and  the  Pa- 
lazzo Caffarelli ;  the  most  abrupt  is  the  corner  at  the  other 

*  Ciacconius  de  Colon.  Trajan. 

+  Narduii,  lib.  v.  cap.  xiv.  Donatusand  he  are  atissue.  The  division 
of  Rycquius  into  Arx,  Capitolium,  and  Saxuin,  does  not  make  his  book 
a  bit  more  clear. 


I 


145 

end  of  the  same  Conservators'  palace.  Which  of  these  two 
is  the  actual  precipice  wlience  the  traitors  were  thrown,  has 
not  been  yet  resolved.  The  citadel  may  be  believed  to  have 
extended  along  the  whole  side  of  the  hill. 

The  great  capitoline  temple  was  placed  by  Nardini  on  the 
Aracoeli ;  but  doubts  have  again  shaken  this  presumption,  and 
the  Feretrean  Jupiter  has  put  in  his  claim  to  that  elevation. 
An  earlier  topographer  mentions  a  church  of  Saint  Salvator 
in  Maximis,  looking*  towards  the  west,  as  occupying  the  site 
of  the  temple,  and  such  a  title,  if  existing  now,  might  aid 
us  in  our  conjectures.     But  no  such  church  now  remains. 

The  revolutions  of  Rome  were  first  felt  on  this  hill.  The 
Sabines,  the  Gauls,  the  republicans,  the  imperiahsts,  the  ci- 
tizens of  papal  Rome,  have  all  contended  for  dominion  on  the 
same  narrow  spot.  After  the  repairs  of  Domitiant  it  appears 
that  the  citadel  was  lost  in  a  mass  of  golden-roofed  fanes,  and 
the  word  capital  seems  to  have  been  synonymous  with  the  tem- 
ple.J  From  that  time  the  triumphs  and  studies  of  peace  were 
celebrated  and  pursued  amidst  the  trophies  of  victory.  Poets 
were  crowned  with  oaken  wreaths, §  libraries  were  collected, 
schools  opened,  and  professors  taught  rhetoric,  from  the  reign 
of  Hadrian  to  that  of  Theodosius  the  Younger.  It  is  possi- 
ble that  part  of  the  establishment  mentioned  in  a  law  pub- 
lished by  Valentinian  III.  and  Theodosius  II.  may  refer  to 
Constantinople.il  There  were,  however,  public  schools  in 
the  Capitol.  Three  Latin  rhetoricians,  five  Greek  sophists, 
ten  Latin  and  ten  Greek  grammarians,  formed  a  respectable 
university. 

The  change  of  religion  bedimmed  the  glory  of  the  Domi- 
tian  Capitol,  but  did  not  destroy  the  structures,  as  Winkel- 

*  Fabriciiis — "  in  ea  Capitolii  parte  quae  occasum  versus  forum  Holito- 
rlum  respicit."  Descrlp.  nrb.  Roraa,  cap.  ix.  That  is,  on  the  side  exactly 
contrary  to  Aracceli. 

t  The  gilding  alone  cost  12,000  talents,  above  two  millions  and  a  half 
sterling.     See  note  45  to  cap-  xvi.  Decline  and  Fall,  torn.  ii.  p.  413-  oct. 

I  "  Auratum  squalet  Capitolium."  Hieron.  in  loco  cit.  ap.  Note  to 
Stanza  Ixxx. 

!^  Decline  and  Fall,  cap.  Ixx.  notes  10, 11.  torn,  xii-  p.  327. 

P  Tiraboschi,  Storia  della  Lett.  Ital  torn  ii.  lib.  iv.  p.  SU7. 


146 

mann  heedlessly  supposed.*  The  first  despoilment  is,  how- 
ever, to  be  attributed  to  the  piety  or  rapacity  of  Stilicho. 
Genzeric  is  the  next  recorded  plunderer ;  but  Theodoric  does 
not  appear  to  have  missed  the  gilding  of  the  doors,  or  the 
tiles  of  the  half  uncovered  roof  of  the  great  temple,  or  the 
chain  of  the  goddess  Rhea.  In  his  time  "  the  ascent  of  the 
High  Capitols  furnished  a  sight  surpassing  all  that  the  human 
imagination  could  conceive. "t  How  long  these  wonders 
were  spared  is  unknown.  It  is  probable  that  the  robbery  of 
the  emperor  Constans  extended  to  the  ornaments  of  the  capi- 
toline  temples  ;  but  an  antiquary  of  great  note  has  thought 
himself  able  to  discover  the  temple  of  Jupiter  as  late  as  the 
eighth  or  ninth  century. J 

The  hill  does  not  reappear  for  ages,  but  seems  to  have- 
been  put  to  its  ancient  use,  if  it  be  true  that  the  anti-pope, 
John,  was  thrown  from  the  Tarpeian  rock  at  the  end  of  the 
tenth  century. §  It  was  again  a  strong  place,  and  the  Corsi 
family  had  fortified  it,  or  occupied  its  fortifications,  in 
the  course  of  the  next  hundred  years.  Their  houses  on 
the  hill  were  thrown  down  by  the  emperor  Henry  IV,   in 


*  Storia  della  arti,  fee.  lib.  xii.  cap.  hi.  torn.  ii.  p.  419.  note  a.  He 
went  solely  on  the  words  of  St.  Jerome,  (quoted  in  note  to  Stanza  Ixxx.) 
on  which  Baronius  had  observed  long  before.  "  Verum  non  sic.  quidera 
concidisse  affirmat  Capitolini  Jovis  templura,  quod  dirutum  hoc  anno 
fuerit,  sed  quod  ornamentis  tantum  modo  expoliatum."  Annal.  Eccles. 
ad  an- 389,  torn.  vi.  p.  51.  edit.  Lucae.  1740. 

f  "  Capitolia  celsa  conscendere  hoc  est  humana  ingenia  superata  vi- 
disse."     Cassiod.  Form,  comitiv.  forraar-  urbis,  lib.  vii.  p.  113. 

t  Bianchini.  See  note  to  Stanza  Ixxx.  p.  80. 

?5  Dissertazione  sulle  Rovine,  p.  330.  note  A.  There  seems  some 
doubt  here.  Muratori,  ad  an-  998,  tom.  v.  p.  509.  is  much  amused  at  a 
story  of  Peter  Damian's,  that  the  anti-pope  had  his  eyes  bored  out,his  ears 
cut  off,  and  his  tongue  also  cut  off,  and  being  then  put  on  an  ass,  with  his 
face  to  tlie  tail,  which  he  held  in  his  hand,  was  paraded  about  Rome,  and 
obliged  to  exclaim,  "  Such  is  the  deserving  punishment  of  him  who  en- 
deavours to  expel  the  pope  of  Rome  from  his  seat"  Damian  tells  this, 
with  the  exception  of  the  tongue  cutout ;  a  Saxon  annalist  tells  it  with 
the  exception  of  the  exclamation  ;  so  that  the  joke  is  only  in  Muratori's 
confusion. 


147 

1084,  and  Guiscard  soon  afterwards  levelled  whatever  re- 
mained of  the  fortress.* 

In  1118,  however,  it  was  still  the  place  of  assembly.  The 
friends  of  pope  Gelasius  II.  and  the  Heads  of  the  regions'  arc 
said  to  have  mounted  into  the  Capitol,  to  rescue  him  from 
Cencio  Frangipane.t  In  that  century  the  Capitol  is  crowned 
with  churches,  and  in  the  possession  of  monks.  Aracoeli  and 
St.  John  the  Baptist,  the  monastery  of  the  Benedictines, 
(who  were  settled  there  by  the  anti-pope  Anaclete  II.  about 
1 130  or  1 134),  some  gardens  and  mean  houses  and  shops  had 
succeeded  to  the  pagan  temples  and  to  the  feudal  towers.]: 

At  the  revolution  of  Arnold  of  Brescia  (1143,  1144),  in 
the  same  century,  the  Capitol  was  naturally  selected  for  the 
restoration  of  the  Senate  and  the  equestrian  order.  The 
hill  became  the  seat  of  the  revolutionary  government,  and 
we  find  Lucius  II.  in  1145,  repulsed  and  killed  with  a  stone, 
in  an  attempt  to  drive  the  people  from  their  post,§  The  re- 
building of  the  capitoline  citadel||  was  part  of  the  proposed 
reform,  and  appears  to  have  been  carried,  partially  at  least, 
into  effect.  From  this  period  the  Capitol  resumed  something 
of  its  importance,  and,  if  those  who  saw  it  may  be  trusted,  of 
its  splendour.  The  people  held  a  consultation  there,**  before 
they  attacked  Frederic  Barbarossa,  in  1155. 

It  appears  in  the  transactions  of  the  subsequent  centuries 
as  the  centre  of  the  city.  The  duties  and  ceremonies  of  the 
recovered  Senate  or  Senator,  were  rendered  more  respecta- 
ble, by  being  performed  on  the  site  of  ancient  dominion,  and 
whilst  the  tomb  of  Hadrian  was  regarded  with  jealousy  and 
affright,  the  tenant  of  the  Capitol  was  looked  upon  as  the  law- 
ful master  of  Rome.  Here  Rienzi  planted  the  standard  of 
the  good  estate  ;  here  Petrarch  was  crowned.  The  popular 
assemblies  were  convoked  on  this  hill.  The  bell  of  the  great 
tower  was  the  signal  of  alarm,  and  was  thought  to  watch  ovec 

*  See  note  to  Stanza  Ixxx.  p  8D. 
f  Annali  d'ltalia,  torn.  vi.  p.  389. 
\  Dissertazione,  &.c.  p.  S57,  358. 
^  Annali  d'ltalia,  torn.  vi.  p.  480. 

II  "  Andava  cestui  (Arnold  of  Brescia)  predicando  clie  si  dovea  rlffab- 
bricare  il  campidoglio"    Annali  d'ltalia,  torn-  vi  p.  481- 
**  Annali,  kc-  torn.  vi.  p.  517, 

19 


k 


148 

the  new  liberties  of  the  Romans.  The  tolling  is  often  heard 
in  the  night  of  those  unhappy  ages. 

The  importance  of  this  station  was  fatal  to  the  new  cita- 
del''which,  after  being  frequently  assaulted  and  taken  in  the 
qu^rrel§  of  the  barons,  and  the  people,  and  the  popes,  seems 
..  '{o  have  lost  all  appearance  of  a  fortress  in  the  beginning  of 
•  the  fifteenth  century.  But  the  people  were  still  summoned 
to  the  hill  in  the  tumults  which  followed  the  death  of  King 
Ladislaus,*  in  1414  ;  and  a  house  for  the  tribunals  of  the  Se- 
nator and  his  Conservators  was  built  upon  the  ancient  enrol- 
ment office  of  Catulus.  Hear  what  was  then  the  condition  of 
the  hill  from  a  Roman,  who,  after  describing  its  ancient  glo- 
ries, exclaims,  "  But  nozo,  besides  the  brick  house  built  fur  the 
use  of  the  senator  and  his  assessors  by  Boniface  IX.,  and  raised 
upon  ruins,  and  such  as  an  old  Roman  citizen  of  moderate  for- 
tune would  have  despised  ;  besides  the  church  of  Aracceli,  be- 
longing to  the  brothers  of  the  blessed  Francis,  constructed  on 
the  foundation  of  the  temple  of  the  Feretrian  Jupiter,  there  is 
nothing  to  be  seen  on  this  Capitoline,  or  Tarpeian  mountain, 
adorned  once  with  so  many  noble  edifices.'^'']  In  this  picture  of 
desolation  may  be  inserted  the  fragments  of  marble  recorded 
by  Poggio,  and  the  cottages  which  served  for  the  shops  of  the 
artisans  who  frequented  the  Wednesday  market  held  there, 
until  transferred,  in  1477,  to  the  Piazza  Navona.]: 

The  present  state  of  the  Capitol  dates  from  the  pontificate 
of  Paul  III.  On  the  establishment  of  the  papal  power  the 
castle  of  St.  Angelo  was  to  be  the  only  fortress,  and  the  ge- 
nius of  Michael  Angelo  was  employed  to  make  the  ancient 

*  Vendettini-     Serie  chronologica,  &c.  p.  75,  76. 

f  "  Nunc  vero  prseter  lateritiam  domum  a  Bonifacio  IX.  ruinis  superse- 
dificatam  qualem  mediocris  olim  fastidisset  Romanus  civis  usibus  sena- 
toris  et  causidicorum  deputatam :  prseter  Arjecceli  fratruni  beati  Franc, 
ecclesiam  in  Feretrii  Jovis  templi  fundamentis  extructam,  nihil  habet  is 
Capitolinus  Tarpeiusve  mons  tantis  olim  aedificiis  exornatus."  Flav. 
Blond.  Rom.  Inst  lib.  i.  fo.  10.  edit.  1527. 

X  "  Eodein  anno  et  mense  essendosi  piu  volte  ordinate  lo  qonsiglio  nel 
Palazzo  de'  Conservatori,  che  si  dovesse  fare  lo  niercato^  di  Mercordi 
nella  Piazza  di  Nagoni,  tamdem  lo  raercato  fu  cominciato  alii  tredici  die 
Settembre  dello  detto  anno  (1477)."  Steph.  Infess.  Diar.  Rom.  ap.  Script 
Rer.  Ital.  torn.  iii.  par.  ii.  p.  1146. 


149 

citadel  not  only  accessible  but  inviting.  The  broad  and  easy 
ascent,  the  facade  and  steps  of  the  senatorial  palace,  the  late- 
ral edifices,  have  accomplished  this  object ;  but  they  accord 
ill  vrith  our  preconceptions  of  the  Roman  Capitol.  It  should, 
however,  be  recollected,  that  although  the  area  may  have  been 
partially  levelled,  the  principal  eminence  is  probably  as  high 
as  that  of  the  ancient  hill.  The  tops  of  the  buildings  below 
were  on  a  level  with  the  base  of  thtt  Capitoline  structures  in 
the  reign  of  Vitellius,  and  the  ascent  was  by  a  hundred  steps,* 
which  could  hardly  rise  higher  than  the  124  steps  of  the 
church  of  Aracoeli.  Calpurnius,  in  his  seventh  eclogue,  says, 
that  the  top  of  the  Coliseum  towered  above  the  Tarpeiart 
rock.  We  can  account  for  that  rock  appearing  less  terrific 
than  might  be  expected  ;  since  a  large  piece  of  it,  as  big  as  a 
house  of  ample  magnitude,!  fell  down  in  the  reign  of  Euge- 
nius  IV.  The  Cafarelli  palace  and  other  edifices  conceal  the 
form  of  the  summit  itself. 

Aracoeli,  whether  on  the  site  of  the  great  temple  or  not, 
preserves  the.  post  which  it  occupied  eight  centuries  ago. 
The  Benedictines  made  way  for  the  Franciscans  in  1252,  and 
popes  and  cardinals  have  been  ambitious  to  contribute  to  the 
dignity  of  the  substitute.  The  corporation,  calling  itself  the 
Roman  People, |  affected  to  emulate,  in  behalf  of  this  church, 
the  splendours  of  Catulus  and  Domitian,  and  gilded  the  whole 
interior  roof,  in  gratitude  for  the  victory  obtained  over  the 
Turks  in  1571.  On  the  return  of  Marc  Anthony  Colonna 
from  the  victory  of  Lepanto,  on  the  16th  of  December  in 
that  year,  he  was  received  in  triumph  in  the  Capitol,  and 
Aracoeli  was  the  new  temple  which  served,  instead  of  the 
Jove,  Best  and  Greatest,  to  receive  the  vows  of  the  Chris- 
tian conqueror.  The  religious  community  amounted  to  400, 
when  the  French  dispersed  them,  and  reduced»^i^r  ti'easures 
to  the  base  of  the  altar,  which  Augustus  Cajsar  erected  to 

*  "  Scandentes  per  conjiincta  sdificia:  quse  ut  in  multa  pace,  in  altum 
edita,  solum  Capitolii  sequabant."  Ticiti.  Hist.  lib.  iii.  cap.  Ixii.  "  Etqua 
Tarpeja  rupes  centum  gradibus  aditur."     Ibid- 

t  "Rupis  Tarpeix,  cujus  pars  maxima  domus  araplse  magnitudinis 
srquiparanda  proximis  diebus  collapsa  est."  Flav.  Biond.  ibid.  lib.  ii.  fol.  22. 

I  Venuti  descrizione,  kc.  di  Rom.  Mod.  torn.  ii.  p.  341.  edit.  1766. 


15d 

the  First-born  of  God,  and  to  the  picture  of  the  Virgin 
painted  by  St.  Luke.*  The  restored  remnant  is  only  a  hun- 
dred. 

The  Monte  Caprino,  behind  the  Conservators'  palace,  is 
choked  up  by  dirty  cottages,  through  one  of  which  you  are 
led  to  look  over  one  of  the  Tarpeian  precipices.  The  height 
of  the  hill  on  the  side  of  the  Forum  is  rendered  more  im- 
posing by  the  clearing  away  of  the  soil,  which  rose  to  the 
base  of  the  senatorial  palace,  and  formed  a  platform  of  dirt 
and  rubbish,  over  which  carriages  are  seen  driving  in  the  old 
views  of  Romc.t  As,  however,  the  stranger  cannot  have  the 
satisfaction  of  chmbing  the  Capitol  by  the  ancient  triumphal 
road,  whose  exact  position  has  not  been  ascertained,  he 
should  pay  his  first  visit  on  the  other  side,  by  the  modern  ap- 
proach, where  the  colossal  figures  and  the  trophies  of  Trajan 
in  front,  and  the  Equestrian  Aurelius  rising  before  him  as  he 
mounts,  have  an  air  of  ancient  grandeur  suitable  to  the  sensa- 
tions inspired  by  the  genius  of  the  place. 

Stanza  CXII. 

The  Foruvi,  ivhere  the  immortal  accents  gloto, 

And  still  the  eloquent  air  breathes — burns  with  Cicero. 

The  reader  may  recollect  a  fine  passage  in  Middleton's 
letter  from  Rome  :  "  For  my  own  part,  as  oft  as  I  have  been 
rambling  about  in  the  very  rostra  of  old  Rome,  or  in  that  tem- 
ple of  Concord  where  Tully  assembled  the  senate  in  Cati- 
Une's  conspiracy  ;  I  could  not  help  fancying  myself  much 
more  sensible  of  the  force  of  his  eloquence,  whilst  the  im- 
pression of  the  place  served  to  warm  my  imagination  to  a 
degree  almost  equal  to  that  of  his  old  audience.^'* 

The  author  of  the  Free  Inquiry  was  no  enthusiast,  even 
in  the  cause  of  his  Favourite  Cicero,  and  the  emotions  which 


*  Venuti,  (ibid,)  has  the  grace  to  say,  "  un  altare  che  pretendesi  eretto 
da  Augusto,  col  titolo  d^ara  Priinogenili  Dei." 

f  See — Descriptio  faciei  variorum  locorum  quam  prospectum  vocant 
urbis  Romae.  Fifteen  engravings  by  Livinus  Cruylius,  prefixed  to  the 
fourth  volume  of  Grsevius* 


1^1 

he  confesses  himself  to  have  felt  will  be  assuredly  partaken 
by  any  one  imbued  with  a  moderate  respect  for  the  wisest 
and  best  man  of  all  antiquity.  Every  site  and  relic  that  can 
remind  us  of  him  must  be  regarded  with  that  veneration  with 
which  he  himself  contemplated  the  porticos  and  seats  of  the 
Athenian  philosophers  :  and  we  treasure  up  the  little  dies  of 
the  pavement  which  lie  scattered  on  the  Formian  shore,  and 
may  possibly  have  been  trodden  by  the  saviour  of  his  coun- 
try, with  an  affectionate  regard  scarcely  inspired  by  the  mas- 
terpieces of  ancient  art.* 

There  is  certainly  no  delight  comparable  with  that  derived 
from  the  sight  of  objects  connected  with  the  writings  and  ac- 
tions of  those,  who,  according  to  the  panegyric  of  Dryden, 

"  Better  lived  than  we,  though  less  they  knew — " 
and  how  fully  such  a  delight  is  enjoyed  at  Rome  may  be  un- 
derstood by  the  most  ignorant,  and  is  experienced  by  the 
most  indifferent  observer.  The  fear  of  ridicule,  the  vice  of 
the  age,  is,  in  this  instance,  insufficient  to  check  the  honest 
indistinct  admiration,  which,  it  may  be  son>e  consolation  for 
the  timid  to  learn  from  competent  authority,  is  not  the  sign  of 
folly,  but  of  superior  sense,  and  is  the  sole  origin  of  wisdom. t 
The  memory  of  the  great  orator  was  preserved  at  Rome  even 
in  the  ages  of  ignorance.  In  the  twelfth  century  an  ancient 
structure  was  known  by  the  name  of  the  Temple  of  Cicero. 
He  had  not  a  temple  raised  to  him,  but  no  man  that  ever 
lived  was  so  deserving  of  one.| 

We  must  be  content  with  the  site,  for  we  cannot  trust 
much  to  the  objects  of  the  Roman  Forum.  It  will  have  been 
seen  that  when  Middleton  was  at  Rome  the  eight  columns 

*  Cicero  is  the  hero  of  Mola  di  Gaeta :  a  tomb,  a  villa,  &,c.  are  shown 
by  the  antiquaries  of  the  inn  at  that  town. 

t  Ma'Xa  ydp  ^iXoao^ov  tovto  to  rta'^ffj,  to  Oavfid^fiv,  ov  yap  aM.ri  apxy 
^v%oao^iai  rj  iivti].  Platen.  Theceteti.  dialog,  oper.  torn.  i.  p.  155.  The 
reader  may  remark  the  use  the  eloquent  Winkelmann  has  made  of  this 
authority.     Storia  delle  arti,  &ic.  lib.  v.  cap.  vi.  torn.  i.  p.  393. 

I  Benedict,  in  his  Ordo  Romanus,  says,  "  Mane  dicit  missam  ad  sanc- 
tam  Anastasiam,  qua  finita  descendit  cum  processione  per  viam  juxta 
porticum  Gallatorum  ante  templum  Sybillse  et  inter  templum  Ciceronis 
et  porticuna  Cimorum."  Ap.  Mabillon.  Mus.  Ital.  tona.  ii.  p.  125.  nmn 
16      See — note  to  Stanza  Ixxx.  p.  89. 


152 

under  the  Capitol  with  the  inscription  '■' Senatus  Populus- 
que  Romanus  incendio  consumptum  restituit,'^  were  usually 
supposed  those  of  the  Ciceronian  Temple  of  Concord. 
In  fact  they  had  gone  by  that  name  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
when  seen  by  Poggio,  who  witnessed  the  destruction  of  the 
cell  and  part  of  the  portico.*  The  author  of  the  Ordo  Roma- 
nus, in  the  twelfth  century,  places  it  near  the  Arch  of  Seve- 
rus,t  a  position  which  seems  to  accord  with  that  given  to  the 
Temple  of  Concord  by  Dion  Cassius|  and  by  Servius,§  the 
first  of  whom  says  it  was  near  the  prisons,  and  the  second  near 
the  Temple  of  Saturn  on  the  Clivus  Capitolinus.  Plutarch  in 
his  life  of  Camillus,  mentions  that  it  looked  towards  the  Fo- 
rum. An  inscription  found  near  the  ruins,  as  Marlianus||  and 
Faunus**  attest,  and  transferred  afterwards  to  the  Late  ran,  re- 
cords, that  the  Temple  of  Concord  having  fallen  from  old  age, 
was  restored  by  the  Senate  and  the  Roman  people  in  the  time 
of  Constantine.  Donatustt  was  positive  of  the  authentic 
claims  of  the  eight  columns.  The  first  to  establish  a  doubt 
was  NardinijII  and  his  opinion  prevailed  with  Winkelmann§§ 

*  "  Romani  postmodum  aedem  totam  et  porticus  partem  disjectis  co- 
lumnis  suntdemoliti"     De  Variet  Fortunae  ap.  Sallengre,  torn,  i-  p.  501. 

■f  "  Descendit  ante  privatam  Mamertini ;  intrat  sub  arcu  triumphali  in- 
ter templum  fatale et templum  Concordiae"  Ordo  Roman.  Auct,  Bene- 
dict, ap.  Mab.  ib.  p.  143.  num.  51.  The  author  of  the  "  De  mirabilibus 
Romtc"  also  says,  "  Templum  Corcordise  juxta  Capitolium,  ante  quod 
arcus  triumphalis."     Ap.  Montfaucon  Diar.  Italic,  cap.  xx. 

X  Hist-  Rom.  lib.  Iviii-  cap.  ii.  tom.  ii.  p.  885.  Near  the  pri-'on,  he  says, 
that  is  the  Mamertine,  aTiX'  a,v^r;iA.spbv  57  yipovaia  m.yjcii,ov  tov  6ixr;fxafos  Ir 
<t^  'O^ovoEtoi,  &i,c.  vol.  ii.  p.  885.  edit.  Hamb. 

?5  "Templum  Saturni,  quod  est  ante  Clivum  Capitolinum,  juxta  Con- 
cordiaj  templum."     Ad  ^neid.  lib.  ii.  ver.  116. 

!|  Marlian- Topog.  Urb.  Rom.  cap.  x.  lib.  ii.  only  says,  "Inventus  est 
autem  lapis,"  without  saying  where. 

**  Faunus,  lib.  ii.  cap.  x.  de  Antiq.  Urb.  Rom-  "  In  marmore  praeterea 
quodam  aliquando  in  minis  reperto."  Is  the  Abate  Fea  justified  from 
this  in  saying,  "  Che  vi  fu  trovata  per  testimonianzadel  Marliano  e  di  Lu- 
cio  Fauno  ?"  Dissertazionc,  &.o.  p.  299.  See — note  to  Stanza  Ixxx.  p. 
6C.  where  this  inscription  is  given. 

ft  Lib.  ii.  cap.  xiv. 

ft  Lib.  V.  cap.  vi. 

*^  Storia  delle  arti,  &.c.  lib.  xii.  cap.  xiii-  tom.  ji  p.  41.'?. 


133 

and  with  Winkelmann's  editor,*  who,  however,  was  converted 
before  he  had  finished  his  labours,  and  to  get  rid  of  the  diffi- 
culty respecting  the  two  inscriptions,  (the  one  in  the  Lateran 
and  the  other  now  on  the  frieze)  supposes  that  they  both  may 
have  been  affixed  to  the  Porch,  and  that  the  restoration  was 
md.de,  Jirst  under  Constantine,  and  afterwards  perhaps  at  the 
time  that  the  emperor  Eugenius  encouraged  the  Pagan  wor- 
ship. 

The  fall  and  the  fire  and  the  modem  Romans  have  left  but 
little  of  the  temple  where  Cicero  assembled  the  senate,  sup- 
posing these  to  be  the  ruins  of  that  temple  ;  but  it  is  something 
to  hope  that  we  tread  the  site  and  may  touch  a  fragment  of  the 
Porch  which  was  guarded  by  the  equestrian  patriots  who 
escorted  the  consul  and  menaced  Caesar  and  the  friends  of  the 
conspirators  with  their  swords. t  If  this,  however,  was  the 
Temple  of  Concord,  it  is  not  easy  to  understand  why  such  a 
position  should  have  been  thought  peculiarly  secure.  It  does 
not  certainly  correspond  with  the  usual  incorrect  notion  that 
the  temple  was  in  the  Capitol.  The  ruins  can  hardly  be  said 
even  to  be  on  the  Capitoline  ascent,  which  is  supposed  by 
some  to  be  included  in  the  Capitol  itself.j 

The  doubts  respecting  the  other  three  columns  are  of  an 
earlier  date  than  those  concerning  the  Temple  of  Concord. 
Fulvius  Ursinus  considered  the  name  of  Jupiter  Tonans  a  rash 
conjecture  when  applied  to  any  certain  position  in  the  Capitol, 
and  particularly  near  the  modern  prisons  ;§  but  the  regionary 
Victor  finds  that  temple  in  the  Capitoline  declivity,||  which 
Seutonius  had  placed  in  the  Capitol.  It  is  in  order  to  recon- 
cile these  contending  notices  that  the  dilation  of  the  Capitol 

*  Dissertazione,  fcc.  torn.  iii.  p.  299.  ibid. 

f  Philip.  X.  "  Equiteu  Romani  qui  frequentissimi  in  gradibus  Concordiaj 
steterant,"  fcc. 

t  Varro  places  the  temple  between  the  Capitol  and  the  Forum.  Fes- 
tus  also,  (in  voc.  Senatula)  "  inter  Capitolium  et  Forum"  See — Marlian. 
in  loc.  citat.  and  Nardini ;  also  P.  Victor,  "  Unum  (Senaculum)  ubi  nunc 
est  ajdes  Concordiae,  ubi  magistratus  cum  Senioribus  deliberant,''  de  rc- 
gionibus  urbis.    Ap.  Graev.  torn.  iii.  p.  xi. 

\^  Marlian.  Ibid.  lib.  ii.  cap.  iii-  note  S. 

II  "  .^des  Jovis  Tonantis  in  Clivo  Capitolii,  dedicata  ab  Augusto."  D» 
region,  urb.    Regio  viii.  in  loc.  cit.  p.  105. 


154 

has  been  adopted  by  the  antiquaries.*  The  letters  left  on  the 
frieze,  estitver,!  correspond  with  the  Lateran  inscription 
thought  to  belong  to  the  other  temple,  yet  nothing  has  been 
gained  bj  the  coincidence. 

The  late  excavations  have  not  cleared  the  doubts  which  ob- 
scure these  superb  remains  :  but  the  neighbouring  column  of 
Phocas  can  no  longer  be  part  of  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Gustos, 
or  the  Graecoalasis,  or  the  bridge  of  Caligula.  It  must  appear 
strange  that  the  simple  expedient  of  digging  to  the  base  to  look 
for  an  inscription,  vras  delayed  until  1813,  on  purpose,  as  it 
were,  to  give  scope  to  further  conjecture. |  It  seems  that 
some  struggle  was  made  to  believe  it  dedicated  to  the  empe- 
ror Maurice,  the  name  of  the  fallen  tyrant  being  carefully 
erased. 

The  affection  of  Gregory  the  Great,  who  then  exercised  a 
powerful  influence  over  the  Romans,  towards  his  Piety  the  em- 
peror Phocas,  is  well  known  to  have  been  as  great  as  that  of 
the  exarch  Smaragdus,  in  whose  name  the  column  was  erect- 
ed :  and  indeed  that  murderer  has  found  a  defender  even  in 

*  Donatus,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xi. 

■f  Mr.  Eustace,  who  appears  never  to  have  seen  any  thing  as  it  is,  tells 
us  that  RESTiTVTVM  is  read  on  the  ruins,  and  accounts  for  it.  He  "modo 
SHo"  saw  no  difficuitii-s.     Classical  Tour,  chap-  x.  p.  370.  third  edit 

I  opinio  CLE3IENTIS . /e^iassimOQUE 
PRINCIPI  DOMPJO  n.fomeimperatorl 
PERPETUO  A  i>0  CORONATO  TRIVMPHATORI 

SEMPER  AVGVSTO 
SMARAGDVS  EX  PRAEPOS  SACRI  PALATII 
AC  PATRICIVS  ET  EXARCHVS  ITALIAE 

DEVOTVS  EIVS  CLEMENTIAE 
PRO  INNViMERABILlBVS  PIETATIS  EIVS 

r.ENEFICIIS  ET  PRO  QVieTE 
PROC\TlATA  ITAL.  AC  CONSERj;a<A  LIBERTATfi 
IIANC  STa/i-am.  pidaTl^  EIVS. 

AVRI  SPLENDore  mitanTEM.  HVIC 
SVBLIMI  COLVniNae  itd  PERENNEM 
IPSIVS  GLORIAM  IMPOSVIT  AC  DEDICAVIT 
DI^PRIMA  MENSIS  AVGVSTI  INDICT.  VND. 
PC  PIETATIS  EIVS  ANNO  QVINTO. 
See — Lettera  sopra  la  colonna  dell'  Imperatore  Foca.  scritta  da  Filippo 
Aurclio  Visconti.  Roma  181.S  p.  10. 


155 

modern  times.*  The  gilded  statiie  representing  a  hideoufc 
monster,  and  such  as  the  decayed  arts  could  then  furnish,  the 
style  and  even  the  letters  of  the  inscription,  the  shattered  re- 
paired column,  transferred  from  some  other  structure  and  de- 
faced by  rude  carving,  must  have  forcibly  bespoken  the  degra- 
dation of  the  Forum  and  of  the  Roman  race. 

The  local  sanctity  of  the  Roman  Forum  is  somewhat  impair- 
ed by  the  doubts  which  obscure  the  greater  part  of  the  con- 
spicuous remains  in  this  quarter.  The  site  of  the  Forum  it- 
self, at  least  the  exact  position  of  it,  is  not  quite  determinately 
known.  Some  antiquaries,  previous  to  Panvinius,  thought  it 
to  be  near  the  temple  supposed  that  of  Pallas,  in  what  is  now 
called  the  Forum  of  Nerva.t  Fulvius  laid  it  down  between 
the  Capitoline  and  Palatine  hills. |  Marlianus  extended  it  as 
far  as  the  Arch  of  Titus,  and  Baronius  lengthened  it  to  St.  Ni- 
cholas in  Carcere.^  Donatus  believed  in  the  more  restricted 
sense, II  and  he  is  followed  by  Nardini.  Some  idea  may  be 
formed  of  the  size  from  that  of  the  Forum  of  Trajan,  which 
was  probably  the  larger  of  the  two.  When  Constantius  visit- 
ed Rome,  it  was  regarded  as  a  venerable  remnant  of  former 
power.**  The  destruction  of  the  monuments  and  the  desola. 
tion  of  the  site  must  date  at  least  as  early  as  the  fire  of  Guis- 
card. 

The  name  of  the  Roman  Forum  seems  to  have  been  oblite- 
rated in  the  earliest  times,  and  when  it  reappears,  the  modern 
denomination  by  a  singular  coincidence  shows  that  time  had 
accomplished  the  repented  vow  of  Totila.tt     The  Forum  was 

*  Two  Dutchmen  sat  down  to  protect  and  attack  this  worthy  charac- 
ter. Ant.  de  Stoppelaar,  oratio  pro  Phoca  Imperatore,  Amstel  1732.  and 
Simon  Van  den  Brink.  Orat  in  Phocam  Imperatorem.  Amstel.  1732. 
Mr.  Gibbon,  torn.  %iii.  oct.  cap.  xlvi.  p.  21£,  overlooked  or  despised  these 
authors,  who  were  awakened  from  their  repose  by  the  Abate  Cancellieri) 
the  friend  of  Visconti.  Lettera.  Ibid.  p.  10. 

t  Nardini,  lib.  iii.  cap,  xiii. 

I  Ibid.  lib.  V.  cap.  ii. 
^  Ibid.  ibid.  ibid. 

II  Donat.  lib.  ii.  cap.  xvi.  cap.  xix. 

*»  "  Perspectissimum  priscse  potentiae  forum  obstupuit."  Amm.  Mar- 
cel), lib.  xvi.  cap.  10.  p.  143. 

ft  Totila  said  he  would  make  Rome  a  sheep-walk^  (ttiXofiotov.  The  co- 
JHcidence  would  be  more  striking,  if,  as  the  Latin  translation  interprets  it> 

20 


156 

•the  Cow-field  in  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  the 
sacred  precincts  are  usually  known  by  no  other  name  to  this 
day.  The  accretion  of  soil  is  so  great  in  the  Campo  Vaccino, 
that  the  excavations  to  the  ancient  level  have  thrown  up  heaps 
of  earth,  the  disposal  of  which  has  become  a  matter  of  difficul- 
ty. The  dissection  has  not  yet  led  to  a  correct  anatomy  of  the 
ancient  structure.  Despairing  of  any  discoveries  at  the  foot 
of  the  three  columns,  (the  pretended  Comitium),  the  Abate 
Fea  was  directing  the  labours  of  the  convicts  in  the  summer  of 
1317,  to  ascertain  the  actual  direction  by  which  the  triumphal 
way  ascended  the  Capitoline  hill.  The  difficulty  of  squeezing 
the  twenty  elephants  and  the  four  stags  abreast  of  Aurelian's 
car,  into  the  space  between  the  Arch  of  Severus  and  the  sup- 
posed Temple  of  Concord,  was  not,  however,  likely  to  be  sur- 
mounted by  any  discoveries  beneath  the  soil.*  It  does  not 
seem  that  any  flooring  similar  to  that  of  the  Forum  of  Trajan 
will  be  found  in  this  quarter  :  nor  have  the  labours  at  the  base 
of  the  three  columns  decided  whether  they  are  still  to  be  the 
Comitium,  or  be  restored  to  their  former  tenants,  Castor  and 
Pollux,  or  to  Jupiter  Stator.t  They  have,  however,  added 
two  or  three  fragments  to  the  Fasti,  the  original  mass  of  which 
was  discovered  at  the  opposite  church  of  Santa  Maria  Libera- 
trice. 

Her  Grace  the  Dutchess  of  Devonshire  has  had  as  little 
success  at  the  foundation  of  the  column  of  Phocas,  but  her 
enterprising  liberality  is  not  the  less  to  be  praised  and  imita- 

and  as  Mr.  Gibbon  has,  apparently,  copied  from  that  translation,  the  Go- 
thic king  had  used  the  words  "  in  gregum  pascua,"  a  "  pasture  for  cat- 
tle."    See  Decline  and  Fall,  cap.  xliii-  torn.  vii.  at  p.  369. 

*  Vopisc.  in  Vit.  Aurel.  Hist.  Aug.  p.  210,  edit.  1519  ;  or  under  the  arch 
would  be  equally  difficult. 

f  Nardini,  lib.  v.  cap.  iii-  is  positive  for  the  Comitium  ;  after  which  we 
may  be  amused  with  the  following  opinions.  "  Quoique  il  y  ait  des  anti- 
quaires  qui  croient  que  les  trois  superbes  colonnes  isolees  que  Ton  voit 
dans  le  Forum,  &,c.  et  I'opinion  la  plus  commune  est  qii'elles  sont  un  reste 
du  Portique  du  temple  de  Jupiter  Stator"  Vasi.  Itin^raire  de  Rome,  1316, 
torn.  i.  p  78.  "  Ma  die  sicuramente  sono  avanzi  del  tempio  di  Castore  et 
Polluce."  Itinerario  di  Roma,  fee.  opera  dell'  Antiquario  Andrea  Manaz- 
zale,  Roma,  1317,  torn.  i.  p.  44.  Mr.  Forsyth  has  hit  these  two  antiqua- 
ries, "  lacquey  de  places  in  print." 


157 

ted.*  The  contiguous  sacred-way  is  a  fine  field  of  glory,  and 
may  be  called  virgin  soil.  From  the  church  of  St.  Martina 
in  tribus  Foris  to  the  corner  of  the  Carinae,  there  is  not  an 
object  that  has  not  been  disputed,  and  that  may  not  again  be- 
come the  subject  of  controversy.  Nardinit  thought  the 
church  of  Saint  Hadrian  might  be  the  temple  dedicated  by 
Antoninus  to  Hadrian,  a  scandalous  but  probable  conjecture  ; 
just  as  the  neighbouring  S.  Martinaf  is  more  likely  to  have 
been  formerly  devoted  to  Mars  than  to  the  "  Secretarium  Se- 
natus,'^^  a  name  given  to  it  on  account  of  an  inscription  found 
near  it,  and  copied  by  Gruter.  The  church  of  St.  Hadrian 
is  the  Temple  of  Saturn  in  one  guide  book,  and  the  Basilica 
of  Paulus  Emilius  in  another. § 

Next  comes  the  church  of  St.  Cosmas  and  Damianus, 
which  was  once  set  down  to  Castor  and  Pollux,  then  to  the 
goddess  Rome,  afterwards  to  Romulus  and  Remus,  then  to 
Romulus  alone,  then  to  Remus  alone. ||  The  round  vesti- 
bule is  ancient,  as  are  the  bronze  doors,  although  they  did 
not  originally  belong  to  this  structure,  but  were  added  by 
Pope  Hadrian  I.  together  with  the  porphyry  columns.  Even 
the  modern  objects  change  in  Rome  :  for  the  famous  picture 
in  this  church  of  the  Mother  of  God,**  which  said  to  Saint 
Gregory,  ^^Gregorie  quare  int  non  salutastiP^  is  become  God 

*  The  view  of  the  Forum  in  Paul  V.'s  time  gives  a  mass  of  brick  work, 
called  Rostra  Vetera  et  Nova,  near  the  Palatine  ;  some  arched  ruins,  call- 
ed Templum  Libertatis,  near  the  Comitium  ;  then  a  single  arch  and  two 
steps,  like  a  sentry-box,  Templum  Deorem  Penatum;  and,  behind  these, 
the  Curtian  Lake,  with  four  arches,  partly  filled  up,  called  curia  nova  ad 
Septentrionem  vergens. 

f  Lib.  V.  cap.  8. 

X  It  is  called  in  tribus  foris,  from  the  contiguity  of  the  Roman,  A.»gus- 
tan,  and  Julian  forums,  a  proof  of  its  high  antiquity,  These  names  of 
churches  are  the  great  help  in  adjusting  topography. 

?^  The  same  Vasi  and  Manazzale. 

II  Nardini,  lib  iii.  cap.  iii. — Fabric.  Descrip.  Rom.  cap.  ix — ^Venuti  Ro- 
ma Moderna,  rione  x.  tom.  ii.  p.  354. — Donatus,  lib.  iii.  cap.  iv.  He 
thinks  the  round  temple  might  have  belonged  to  one,  and  the  rectangular 
one  behind  to  another. 

*^*  "They  show  us  here  an  image  of  the  Virgin  which  reprimanded 
Gregory  the  Great  for  passing  by  her  too  carelessly."    liCtler  from  Rome. 


158 

the  Father,  with  a  globe  in  his  hand,  and  two  fingers  held  up 
in  papal  benediction. 

The  two  half-buried  Cipollinc  columns  which  succeed  in 
this  line,  are  modestly  called  Remains  of  some  ancient  edifice. 
The  learned  Vasi  remarks,  that  they  stand  on  their  ancient 
base,  and  that,  therefore,  when  an  excavation  was  made  to  the 
foot  of  them,  in  1735,  the  ground  plan  of  the  sacred  way  was 
discovered. 

The  inscription,  divo  antonino  et  divae  favstinae,  on 
the  portico  of  S.  Laurence  in  Miranda,  would  appear  deci- 
sive :  the  antiquaries,  however,  are  cautious  to  remark  that 
there  were  two  Antonines,  and  two  Faustinas. 

The  three  vaults  of  the  Temple  of  Peace  would  certainly 
seem  part  of  that  structure  which  astonished  Hormisdas,*  and 
which  Herodiant  calls  the  greatest  and  most  beautiful  work 
in  the  whole  city.  Even  Nardinlj  has  no  doubts  here.  But 
the  modern  antiquaries  are  determined  to  dispute  about  what 
part  of  the  temple  these  huge  vaults  may  be  said  to  repre- 
sent ;  a  treasury,  a  Pinacotheca,  perhaps  a  bath,  or  any  other 
building  of  the  Forum  of  Peace.  The  great  excavations  in 
1812  discovered  immense  masses  of  marble,  but  nothing  to 
assist  conjecture. 

This  part  of  Rome  must  have  been  abandoned  for  many 
centuries,  in  order  to  form  the  accretion  of  soil  at  the  back 
of  these  vaults,  which  slopes  into  an  embankment  of  hanging 
gardens.  Procopius  talks  of  the  Temple  of  Peace  as  being 
shattered  with  lightning  and  unrepaired.  The  ruins  have 
supported  modern  buildings,  of  which  fragments  of  towers 
still  remain.  In  addition  to  the  above-mentioned  vestiges  of 
the  old  city,  the  topographer  may  amuse  himself  with  adjust- 
ing the  many  other  structures  which  were  crowded  into  the 
Sacred  way.§ 

*  Amm.  Marcell-  lib.  xvi.  cap.  x.  in  loc.  citforumque pacis. 

t  Herodian,  lib-  i-  ndv  to  t'^i  EipTji/j^j  teH'ivoi  xatt^^ixBij,  ftByiotw  xai 
xdM.vatov  ytvo^ittvov  tuv  tv  trj  }t6%ei  Ipyuv.  p.  58.  edit.  Basil-  The  fire  by 
lightning  happened  in  the  reign  of  Commodus. 

%  Lib.  iii.  cap.  xii. 

«:)  See  Nardini,  lib.  iii.  cap.  xii- 


159 

Stanza  CXIV. 

Then  turn  we  to  her  latest  tribune^s  name, 
From  her  ten  thousand  tyrants  turn  to  thee- 

For  a  sketch  of  these  tyrants,  and  for  the  character  and 
exploits  of  Rienzi,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  DecHne  and 
Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire.*  Those  who  have  given  us  a 
portrait  of  the  Romans  of  the  dark  ages,  have  represented 
them  as  uniting  in  their  persons  all  the  vices  that  can  degrade 
the  human  character :  but,  in  spite  of  the  invectives  of  Liut- 
prandt  and  Saint  Bernard,!  those  vices,  with  the  exception  of 
such  as  they  shared  with  their  barbarous  cotemporaries,  seem 
reducible  to  their  ancient  reproach,  that  they  could  not  bear 
complete  servitude,  nor  perfect  freedom. §     The  barbarian 

*  Cap.  xlix.  Ixix.  Ixx- 

t  Liutprand  was  told,  at  the  court  of  Nicephorus  Phocas,  that  he  was 
not  a  Roman,  although  he  came  from  the  pretended  Roman  EmperorF» 
the  Othos  and  Adelheid,  but  only  a  Lombard-  It  was  on  that  occasion 
that  the  bishop  of  Cremona  became  violent,  and  attacked  the  Romans 
with  that  sentence  which  is  extracted  into  the  Decline  and  Fall,  cap. 
xlix.  note  44.  If,  however,  the  reader  will  consult  the  original,  Idut- 
prandi  legatio  ad  JVichephorum  Phocam,  ap.  Scrip.  Rer.  Ital.  torn.  ii.  p.  479 
to  489,  he  will  see  that  the  insolence  of  the  Greek  Emperor,  who  said 
the  Lombards  were  too  big-bellied  to  fight,  accusing  them  of  "  gastrt- 
margia,'^  was  the  cause  of  the  ambassador's  abuse,  which  was  directed, 
perhaps,  rather  more  against  the  Byzantines,  who  had  exclusivelj^  assum- 
ed the  name  of  Romans,  than  against  the  inhabitants  of  Rome.  Liut- 
prand, indeed,  shows  he  did  not  allude  to  the  Roman  citizens  of  his  day 
particularly,  though  he  does  talk  of  their  subjection  to  harlots,  the  Theo- 
doras and  Marozia,  for  he  begins  his  attack  with  Romulus.  "  Romulum 
fratricidam,  ex  quo  et  Romani  dicti  sunt,  porniogenitum,  hoc  est  ex  adul- 
terio  natum  chronographiainnotuit."  Ibid.  p.  481.  Nichephorus  mount- 
ed the  throne  in  963,  and  to  believe  Liutprand  and  S-  Bernard  strictly, 
we  should  think  that  the  Romans  continued  to  be  the  same  abandoned 
race  for  two  centuries  ;  if  so,  the  Saxon  Emperors  had  not  improved 
them.  Liutprand,  it  is  true,  might  fairly  say,  that  the  descendants  of 
Romulus  had  forfeited  their  title  of  lords  of  the  world,  kosmocratorrs. 

X  Decline  and  Fall,  cap.  Ixix.  p  270.  vol-  xii.  oct  See  also  Muratori 
Annali,  ad  an.  1152,  torn.  vi.  p.  499. 

\"  Sed  imperaturus  es  hominibus,  qui  nee  totam  servitutcni  pati  pos- 
sunt  nee  totam  libertatcra."  Galba  said  this  to  Piso.  Tacit.  TJist.  lib  i. 
cap,  xvi 


160 

blood  which  had  been  transfused  into  their  veins  was  likely 
to  irritate,  rather  than  allay  this  impatience  of  control ;  and 
conceptions  of  original  equality,  to  which  the  enslaved  sub- 
jects of  the  Caesars  had  long  been  strangers,  might  be  im- 
ported by  their  union  with  the  savages  of  the  north.  The 
ambassador  of  a  despot,  and  a  saint,  might  easily  be  disgust- 
ed with  the  thousand  horrid  forms  which  this  tormenting  feel- 
ing would  assume,  and  which  would  betray  itself  in  violence 
or  perfidy,  in  arrogance  or  meanness,  in  proportion  as  they 
were  able  to  shake  away,  or  obliged  to  submit  to,  the  yoke. 
Their  conduct,  from  the  first  assumption  of  temporal  power 
by  the  Popes,  must  seem  absurd  and  contradictory,  if  it  be 
not  regarded  as  the  consequence  of  a  resolution  to  submit  to 
no  resident  master  whose  foreign  authority  might  enable  him 
to  employ  a  foreign  force  for  their  enslavement.  The  ob- 
jection applied  both  to  Popes  and  Emperors,  and  their  his- 
tory, if  a  few  broken  notices  may  so  be  called,  is  a  perpetual 
struggle  against  both,  sometimes  united,  and  sometimes  sepa- 
rated by  a  temporary  alliance  with  the  people  themselves, 
formed  the  same  purpose  of  final  enfranchisement. 

We  must  not  feel  indignant  at  their  ill-directed  efforts,  be- 
cause they  did  not  terminate  in  the  independence  obtained 
by  the  states  of  Tuscany  and  Lombardy.  Their  city  had 
the  misfortune  of  being  the  metropolis  of  Christianity,  in 
which  it  was  for  the  interest  of  the  sovereigns  of  Europe 
that  a  priest  should  reign ;  and,  secondly,  their  too  glorious 
name,  and  the  pride  of  their  Pontiffs,  had  tempted  the  ambi- 
tion of  every  conqueror,  with  a  crown  which  could  be  con- 
ferred no  where  but  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber.  Thus  they 
had  to  contend  with  pretenders  who  could  never  die,  and 
who  failed  not  to  unite  their  efforts  when  the  Romans  thought 
themselves  strong  enough  to  aspire  to  an  independence  of 
both.  It  was  the  endeavour  of  the  people  and  nobles  to  de- 
prive Leo  III.  of  all  temporal  power,  that  made  him  apply 
to  Charlemagne,  and  merge  both  the  republic  and  the  patri- 
cianate  in  the  imperial  title  of  the  Frank.* 

*  Sec — Annali  d'  Italia,  ad  an.  799,  torn.  iv.  p-  431,  432- 


161 

John  XII.  invited  Otho  the  Great  to  Rome,  in  962,  under 
pretext  of  assistance  against  Berenger  and  Adaihert,  and  re- 
stored the  Western  Empire,  which  had  been  vacant  since  the 
death  of  Berenger  Augustus,*  in  924. 

It  was  to  assist  Gregory  V.  that  Otho  III.  marched  to 
Rome  ;t  and  the  protection  of  Benedict  VIII.  brought  down| 
Henry  II.  in  1014. 

The  league  between  Adrian  IV.  and  Frederic  Barbarossa 
cost  Arnold  of  Brescia  his  life,  as  the  price  of  the  Emperor's 
coronation. § 

As  then  the  imperial  and  papal  interests  combined  against 
the  spirit  of  revolt,  and  called,  in  succession,  Charlemagne, 
the  Othos,  the  Henries,  and  the  first  of  the  Frederics,  to 
Rome,  so  the  annalists  of  either  party  have  joined  in  the 
censure  of  every  independent  leader.  The  patrician  Alberic, 
the  son  of  Marozia,  is  handed  down  to  us  as  a  tyrant,||  yet  he 
held  the  dominion  of  Rome  for  two  and  twenty  years,  suc- 
cessfully resisted  the  repeated  sieges  of  the  capital,  and 
peaceably  transmitted  his  authority  to  his  son,  a  youth  of 
seventeen  years  of  age.**  The  Consul,  or  rather  the  Ccesar, 
CrescentiuSjtt  is,  in  the  same  manner,  declared  "  a  bad  man, 
a  man  blinded  by  ambition,"  whose  just  punishment  "served 


*  Annali  ad  an.  961,  torn-  v  p-  961.  999. 
t  Ibid,  ad  an  996,  torn.  v.  p.  501. 

I  Annali,  torn.  vi.  p.  46. 

^  Annali  ad  an.  1 155,  torn.  vi.  p.  516. 

II  "  Termin6  in  quest'  anno  il  corso  di  sua  vita  Alberico  Pati'izio  o 
Principe  o  vogliam  dire  Tiranno  di  Romana."  Annali  ad  an-  954,  torn- 
V.  p.  384. 

**  See  note  to  Stanza  LXXX.  p.  82. 

Tt  Mr.  Gibbon,  cap.  xlix-  calls  him  the  Brutus  of  the  Republic,  but,  in 
fact,  he  affected  the  empire.  The  Marquis  Maffei's  ^allerj'  contained  a 
medal  with  IMP.  CMS.  AUGUST.  P  P  CRESENTIUS,  on  one  side, 
round  the  head  of  the  prince,  and  on  the  reverse  a  man  on  horseback  ha- 
j-anguing  soldiers,  with  the  legend  exercitus  S.  C,  below  ;  and  on  the 
base,  S.  p.  Q.  R.  similar  to  the  allocutions  on  horseback  of  Hadrian, 
Posthumus,  and  others.  The  arts  appear  to  have  been  still  preserved 
even  in  those  ages,  if  we  may  judge  from  this  medal.  Verona  Illustrata. 
par.  iii.  p.  500.  edit.  1732.  Crescentiiis  was  put  to  death  in  May  998,  and 
hanged,  with  twelve  dthers,  round  the  bastion  of  St  Angelo. 


162 

to  deter  those  who  knew  not  how  to  obey  Pope  or  Emperor.""^ 
If  Muratori  says  this,  what  is  to  be  expected  from  Baronius  ? 
Yet  the  Emperor  Otho  III.,  who  murdered  Crescentias  Un- 
dertook a  barefoot  pilgrimage  to  Mount  Garganus  to  expiate 
his  treachery.!  The  Guelf  and  Ghibeline  writers  are  ahke 
unmerciful  to  popular  leaders.  The  anti-popes  of  the  people 
are  Volponi  with  Muratori ;  those  of  the  Emperors  sometimes 
a  little  anti -canonical,  but  often  legitimate  :  there  is  no  depth 
deep  enough  for  either  in  the  Ecclesiastical  Annals. 

Arnold  of  Bresciaj  is  also  delivered  over  to  posterity  as  an 
heresiarch  whose  rebellious  doctrines  justly  condemned  him 
to  the  flamiBs  of  both  worlds. §  These  doctrines,  however, 
were  not  dispersed  with  his  scattered  ashes,  but  were  con- 
centred in  that  Capitol,  and  by  that  Senate,  which  he  re- 
stored ;  and  however  the  ignorance  of  the  age  may  have 
misapplied  his  institutions,  they  served  to  retard,  for  three 
centuries,  the  confirmed  establishment  of  religious  despotism. 
The  Romans  were  the  last  of  all  the  people  of  Christendom 
who  submitted  to  the  Pope.  The  feudal  wars  of  the  city 
belonged  to  the  times,  and  are  not  to  be  charged  to  the  de- 
mocratical  spirit,  but  to  the  impotence  of  the  laws. 

Rienzi  had  the  fortune  to  fall  on  better  days  and  better 
tongues.     With  Petrarch  for  a  poet,||  and  a  fellow  citizen, 

*  "  Un  mal'  uomo,  un  uomo  acciccato  dall'  arabizione,  convien  dire  che 
fosse  Crescenzio  Console  dilloma."  Annali,  kc  torn.  v.  p.  504. 

"  II  che  servi  ad  atterrir  chiunque  non  sapeva  allura  ubbidire  nfe  al  Papa 
ne  air  Iraperatore"    Ibid  p.  510- 

t  Annali  ad  an.  1001,  torn.  vi.  p.  1,  2. 

\  "  Porro  circiter  annum  Christi  mcxlii.  Romanus  Populus  ab  Arnaldi 
Brixiani  heresiarchse  verbis  seductis,  rebellionem  contra  Petri  successores 
jiistos  urbis  dominos  primum  instituit,  rempublicam  nempe  atque  Senatum 
prout  antiquis  ternporibus  fuerant  restituere  ausus."  Antiq.  Med.  ^vi. 
tonri.  ii.  p.  559. 

5^  "  Messo  costui  (Arnold)  nelle  forze del  Prefetto  di Roma  fu  impicca- 
to  e  braciato  c  le  sue  ceneri  sparse  nel  Tevere,  acciochfe  la  stolida  plebc 
non  venerasse  il  corpo  di  questo  infarae."  Muratori.  Annal.  ad  an.  1155. 
lorn  vi.  p.  51G. 

jj  Petr.  epistola  hortatoria  de  capessenda  libertate.  Opp.  p.  535.  540, 
and  the  5th  eclogue.  Vir  magnanime,  vir  fortissime,  Junior  Brute,  arc 
the  titles  he  gives  Rienzi.  De  Sade  was  not  the  first  who  supposed  the 
apirto  t^entil  of  Petrarch  to  be  addressed  to  the  younger  Stephen  Colonna  ; 


163 

rude,  but  a  witness  of  his  exploits,  for  a  biographer,*  his 
merits  have  been  fairly  balanced  with  his  defects ;  and  as 
those  who  suffered  by  his  justice  were  the  rebellious  Barons, 
rather  than  the  partisans  either  of  the  church  or  the  empire, 
his  half  heroic,  fantastic  figure,!  has  bpen  delineated  with 
unusual  partiality.  The  facility  with  which  he  succeeded  in 
his  first  designs,  shows  that  the  allure  of  liberty  had  lost  none 
of  its  charms  at  Rome,  and  that  the  tyranny  of  the  nobles 
was  equally  odious  with  that  of  the  Emperor  or  the  Pope, 

The  fall  of  this  abortion  of  fortune  was  the  fruit  rather  of 
his  own  intemperance  than  of  the  inconstancy  of  the  Ro- 
mans.l  As  the  overthrower  of  the  usurpation  of  the  nobles, 
as  the  assertor  of  justice,  as  the  punisher  of  violence,  and 
the  projector  of  a  splendid  system  which  was  to  restore  the 
freedom  of  Rome  and  of  Italy,  he  did  indeed  "  redeem  cen- 
turies of  shame."  When  the  republican  aspired  to  perpetu- 
ate his  own  power,  when  the  tribune  imitated  the  fopperies 
of  royalty,§  when  the  reformer  declared  himself  the  cham- 

and  that  eulogy  has  been  also  claimed  for  Giordano  de'  Sabelli ;  but  the 
Italian  editors  have,  for  the  most  part,  recognised  the  gentle  spirit  in  Cola 
di  Rienzi-  [See  Castelvetro's  edition,  Venice,  1756,  p.  132,  et  seq.] 
Our  London  editor  has  rejected  the  French  hypothesis.  Zotti,  torn.  i. 
p.  1 12.  Mr.  Gibbon  [chap.  Ixix,  ad  fin.  and  chap.  Ixx.  p.  588,  4to.]  follow- 
ed his  favourite  Abb6. 

*  Historise  Romanse  fragmenta.  Antiq.  Med.  JEvi.  torn.  iii.  p.  399  to  p. 
480,  and  509  to  546. 

t  "  Costui  era  uomo  fantastico  ;  dall'  un  canto  facea  la  figura  d'  eree, 
dair  altro  di  pazzo."    Annali  ad  an.  1347,  torn.  viii.  p.  250. 

t  Giovanni  Viliani  seems  inclined  to  divide  the  disgrace  between  the 
tribune  and  the  people. 

"  Nessuna  signoria  mondana  dura 
E  la  vana  speranza  t'  ha  scoperto 
II  fine  della  fallace  ventura." 

Hist.  Fiorentinae,  lib.  xii.  cap.  civ.  Script.  Rer.  Ital.  tom.  xiii.  p.  982. 

?j  The  account  of  the  feast  given  by  Rienzi  in  the  Lateran  palace,  is  a 
singular  picture  of  the  magnificence  and  luxury  of  those  times,  as -well  as 
of  the  vulgar  profusion  of  the  tribune.  "  Sweetmeats  of  various  kinds ; 
a  great  abundance  of  sturgeon,  a  delicate  fish  ;  pheasants,  kids.  Every 
one  was  allowed  to  pocket  what  he  liked."  "  Confietti  de  divisate  ma- 
nere.  Fonce  abbonnantia  de  storione  (lo  pescie  delicato) ;  fasani,  capretti. 
Chi  bolea  portare  lo  rifudio,  se  lo  portava  liberamente."  Hist  Rom. 
Fragmenta,  cap.  xxvii.  p.  453,  ibid.    Stephen  Colonna  told  Rienzi  that 

21 


164; 

pion  of  superstitFon*  and  the  church,  he  lost  his  distinctive 
character,  and,  Hke  a  more  celebrated  personage  of  our  own 
times,  left  a  convincing  proof,  that  a  revolution  can  be  main- 
tained only  by  the  maxims,  and  even  the  very  forms,  by 
which  it  was  at  first  ushered  into  life. 

The  modern  Capitol  retains  two  objects  which  recal  the 
memory  of  Rienzi.  The  horse  of  Aurelius,t  called,  former- 
ly, the  horse  of  ConstantinCy  which  stood  before  the  Lateran, 
and  from  whose  right  nostril  the  tribune  poured  a  stream  of 
wine  on  the  day  of  his  ridiculous  knighthood  ;X  and  the  bronze 
table,  usually  called  the  lex  regia,  conferring  the  privileges 
of  dominion  on  Vespasian,  which  Rienzi  expounded  to  the 
populace,  and,  by  a  strange  distortion  of  meaning,  cited  a» 
a  proof  of  the  majesty  of  their  ancestors. §     The  inscription 

the  decent  garments  of  a  plebeian  were  more  becoming  the  tribune  than 
those  pompous  robes  which  he  affected.  Ibid.  cap.  xxviii.  Some  origf- 
nal  letters  of  Rienzi,  never  before  published,  are  inserted  at  the  end  of 
these  notices. 

*  Instead  of  the  Holy  Roman  Emj^re,  Rienzi  called  it  the  Holy  Ro- 
man Republic  in  his  title.  "  Nicola  Severo  e  Clemente,  de  libertate,  de 
pace,  e  de  justitia  Tribuno,  anco  de  la  Santa  Romana  Repiubbica  Lib- 
beratorc  Illustre."  It  was  in  this  spirit  that  his  word  of  battle  was  the 
Holy  Ghost,  Cavaliers !  "  E  ordinal  le  battaglie,  e  fece  li  capitani  delle 
vattaglie.  E  deo  lo  nome  Spirito  Santo  Cavalieri"  Hist.  Rom.  Frag, 
cap.  xxxii  ibid.  When  he  came  from  Avignon,  he  came  as  senator  of 
the  Pope. 

t  "  A  stream  of  wine  flowed  from  the  nostrils  of  Constantine's  brazen 
horse :  no  complaint,  except  of  the  scarcity  of  water,  could  be  heard." 
Decline  and  Fall,  cap.  Ixx.  tom.  xiii.  oct.  p.  848.  A  trifling  mistake  in 
the  masterly  sketch  of  Rienzi's  life.  Wine  flowed  from  the  right,  water 
from  the  left  nostril.  "In  quella  die  continuamente  de  la  matina  nell' 
alva  fi  a  nona,  pe  le  nare  de  lo  Cavalfo  de  Constantino,  che  esse  de  vronzo 
pe  canali  de  piommo  ordenati  jescio  pe  froscia  ritta  vino  roscio,  e  pe 
froscia  manca  jescio  acqua  e  cadea  indiflcicntemente  ne  la  conca  piena.** 
Hist.  Rom.  Fragm.  cap.  xxvi.  p  451.  loc.  cit. 

I  "  Vitiosa  bufifonia,"  is  the  title  given  to  the  ceremony  by  the  anony- 
mous author  of  the  Fragments.  Rienzi  excuses  it  in  a  letter  to  his  friend 
Raynald  Orsini.    See — the  MS.  at  the  end- 

^  Rienzi  was  not  quite  so  ignorant  as  Mr.  Gibbon  has  made  him :  he 
did  not  use  the  word  liberty,  but  viajesty.  "  Signori  tanta  era  la  majes- 
tate  de  lo  popolo  de  Roma,  che  a  lo  imperatore  dare  I'autoritate."  Ibid. 
cap.  iii,  Mr.  Gibbon  calls  the  table  "  stUl  extant  in  the  choir  of  the  church 
af  St.  John  Lateran."    He  evidently  forgot,  or  did  not  know,  that  botk 


165 

was  once  in  the  Lateran,  and  is  now  in  the  Capitoline  Ma- 
seum. 

The  horse  was  called  the  horse  o(  Constantine,  by  mistake^ 
in  the  time  of  Theodosius  II.  In  the  regionary  of  the  eighth 
or  ninth  centurj,  tlie  Caballus  Constantini  is  near  the  Tem- 
ple of  Concord,  and  was  removed  from  the  Forum  to  the 
Lateran  in  1 187,  by  Clement  III.  It  was  so  much  neglected 
when  Sixtus  IV.  put  it  in  a  more  conspicuous  situation  before 
the  Lateran,  that  Flaminius  Vacca,  writing  of  it,  says,  it  wa« 
found  in  a  vineyard  near  the  Scala  Santa,  which  has  been 
mistaken  for  a  disinterment,  but  it  was  never  underground. 
Paul  III.  in  1538,  transferred  it  to  the  Capitol.  But  what 
Winkelmann  says*  of  a  nosegay  given  annually  by  the  senator 
to  the  chapter  of  the  Lateran  as  an  acknowledgment  of  right, 
is  not  true.  Michael  Angelo  made  the  pedestal  out  of  a 
piece  of  the  frieze  and  architrave  of  the  Arch  of  Trajan. t 
Winkelmann  has  also  mistaken  in  saying  the  man  was  not  on 
the  horse  in  Rienzi's  time. 

The  Conservator's  palace  exhibits  vestiges  of  the  reform 
of  Arnold  of  Brescia,  and  of  his  re-established  senate.  In 
apartments  contiguous  to  that  which  contains  the  old  Fasti, 
the  modern  series  of  inglorious  magistrates  is  ranged,  in  hum- 
ble imitation  of  the  venerable  list  of  ancient  conquerors  and 
triumphs.  The  initials  of  the  modern  title  are  so  given,  that 
what  must  be  read  Conservators  looks  like  Consuls.  It  does 
not  seem  to  be  known  at  what  precise  period  the  modern  se- 
nate of  Rome  diminished  from  a  council,^  which  at  one  time 
amounted  to  fifty-six  persons,  to  a  single  magistrate  ;  njar  does 
it  appear,  that  after  that  reduction  the  government  of  the 
city  was  invariably  trusted  to  one  alone. §     The  senate,  in  the 

this  table  and  the  horse  were  in  the  Capitol  when  he  wrote.  The  author 
of  the  Fragments  says  that  Rienzi  was  the  only  man  in  Rome  who  could 
read  or  interpret  the  table. 

*  Storia  delle  Arti,  torn.  ii.  p.  395. 

t  See  Dissertazione  sulle  rovine,  &c.  p.  410,  ad  fin. 

X  See — Serie  cronologiea  de'  Senator!  di  Roma  dal  Conte  Antonib 
Vendettini  in  Roma,  1778. 

V*  E  primieramente  vediamo  dall'  elenco  medesimo  che  i  Senatori 


166 

modern  sense,  was  an  office  exercised  by  one  or  more  per- 
sons, for  a  term  which  was  at  first  annual ;  and  we  read  of 
this  senate  long  after  the  duties  had  been  exercised  by  an  in- 
dividual.* Notwithstanding  the  re-establishment  dates  from 
1 1 43,  the  chronological  series  does  not  begin  before  the  year 
1220,  with  Parenzio  Parenzi.  The  names  for  the  next  year 
will  sound  powerfully  to  our  ears — 

1221,  Hannibal  and  Napoleon. 

Napoleon  of  the  Orsi  is  a  frequent  name  in  the  early  fasti. 
The  chief  magistrate  was  assisted  by  three  Assessors,  to  ad- 
minister criminal  and  civil  justice  ;  but  the  next  in  dignity  and 
power  to  those  or  to  him  who  composed  the  senate,  were  the 
three  Conservators ;  and  in  addition  to  these  the  same  list 
contains  the  names  of  the  Capo-Rioni,  who  are  often  enrolled 
with  the  Conservators.  There  were  marshals  also,  of  whom 
one  is  recorded,  and  Praefects,  or  Notaries  of  the  praefecture. 
In  an  interregnum,  or  during  the  absence  of  the  senators,  the 
Conservators  exercised  the  functions,  unless  they  were  in- 
trusted to  those  who  under  various  names  of  Reformers  of  the 
Roman  republic — Chamberlains — Good  men — Deputies  of 
the  people,  supplied  the  place  of  the  regular  government, 
and  were  sometimes  dependent  on  the  bene  placitum  of  the 
Pope,  sometimes  derived  their  authority  from  the  people. 

The  law  by  which  an  alien  alone  could  be  chosen  for  sena- 
tor, does  not  apply  to  those  first  on  the  list,  who  are  specified 
as  Romans,  nor  did  it  constantly  obtain,  in  subsequent  periods, 
until  the  reform  of  the  statutes  in  1580. 

When  Brancaleone  was  elected,  in  1252,  this  was  the  usage, 
but  in  the  next  century  the  office  was  divided  frequently  be- 
tween the  Colonna  and  Orsini.  Muratorit  mentions,  that 
the  custom  of  choosing  foreigners  for  magistrates,  was  intro- 

ora  erano  piu,  ora  un  solo,  e  prima  di  questo  tempo  or  uno  or  due."  Ven- 
dett.  Inc.  citat. 

*  His  title  was  lllusiris  first,  and  then  lUustrissimus,  with  the  addition 
Dei  gratia. 

t  Dissertazione  sopra  le  antichita  Ital.  diss.  xlvi.  p.  67.  torn,  iii 


167 

duced  into  Italy  before  the  year  1 1 80.  The  choice  of  fo- 
reign arbitrators  in  the  controversies  of  states  and  princes, 
seems  to  have  been  the  fashion  of  the  thirteenth  century. 
Thus  the  Enghsh  referred  to  Philip  of  France.  Thus  the 
kings  of  France  and  Arragon,  and  other  princes — the  Scotch 
for  instance — submitted  their  claims  to  the  judgment  of  King 
Edward  I.* 

The  ancient  statutes  have  been  traced  back  to  the  year 
1364. 

Every  vestige  of  the  popular  government,!  which  those 
statutes  were  meant  to  preserve,  has  been  gradually  abolish- 
ed ;  and  the  Senate  and  Roman  people,  after  nearly  seven 
centuries  of  feeble,  dubious  existence,  are  now  at  their  last 
gasp.  One  of  the  operations  of  the  Cardinal  Gonsalvi's  mi- 
nistry has  been  to  give  an  unity  to  the  papal  government,  by 
depriving  the  Conservators  of  some  feudal  jurisdictions  which 
they  still  held  at  Viterbo.  The  senatorial  palace  of  the  Ca- 
pitol has  probably  seen  the  last  tribunal  of  the  expiring  ma- 
gistrates. 

The  pageant,  however,  remains.  The  three  Conservators 
act  certain  parts  in  certain  ceremonies  :  they  stand  on  the  se- 
cond step  of  the  papal  throne,  and  they  have  a  right  to  carry 
the  sacramental  vessels  between  the  high  altar  and  his  holi- 
ness, on  Easter  Sunday.  The  Senator  of  Rome  bears  a  still 
more  conspicuous  part  in  these  scenes  of  humiliation.  When 
the  Pope  pontificates,  the  Senator  stands  amidst  a  seated  as- 
sembly, but  stands  at  the  right  hand  of  the  hierarch,  on  a  level 
with  the  throne,  and  a  step  above  the  Conservators.  His 
cloak  of  golden  brocade,  and  his  depending  rolls  of  borrow- 
ed hair,  suit  well  with  the  meek  ministerial  attitude  of  the 

*  See — Hume,  Hist,  of  England,  Edw.  I-  cap.  xiii. 

f  For  a  short  account  of  the  statutes  and  government  of  Rome,  see  the 
Decline  and  Pal),  cap.  Ixx.  p.  380,  torn  xii.  oct.  What  has  been  said 
above,  was  inserted  merely  in  explanation  of  the  modern  Fasti  Consu- 
lares.  The  civil  and  criminal  justice  of  Rome,  previously  to  the  late  re- 
volution, was  esteemed,  and  with  reason,  the  most  iniquitous  in  Italy. 
The  Cardinal  Gonsalvi  has  attempted  some  reforms,  since  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Pope  appeared  likely  to  revive  all  the  defects  of  the  old  go- 
vemraent. 


168 

gentleman-usher ;  but  they  are  dwindled  into  nothing  amidst 
the  purple  of  the  cardinals,  and  the  seven-fold  robes  of  the 
holy  father :  even  his  patient  resignation  is  obscured  by  the 
incense  and  awful  bustle  of  that  pious  pantomime. 

The  half-starved  porters  of  the  Campidoglio  make  their 
boast  to  strangers,  that  their  Senator  is  placed  for  life,  and 
cannot  be  degraded  from  his  office,  even  by  the  Pope  him- 
self. But  the  Pontiffs  have  shown  their  conviction  of  hit 
impotence,  by  dispensing  with  the  statute  which  enacted  that 
no  one  but  an  alien  could  be  chosen.  His  present  Holiness 
did  not  think  it  expedient  to  nominate  a  relation,  as  Rezzo- 
nico  had  done,  but  gave  the  idle  title  to  the  young  Patrizzi, 
the  representative  of  a  noble  Siennese  family  transplanted  to 
Rome. 

The  eloquent  initials  of  the  S.  P.  Q.  R.  are  still  to  be  seen 
multiplied  on  all  the  escutcheons  and  inscriptions  of  the  mo- 
dern city ;  and  the  same  ambitious  formula  has  been  imitated 
hj  the  little  tributary  towns  of  the  pontifical  state.  We 
read,  on  the  stuccoed  gateway  at  Tivoli,  of  a  modern  "  Se- 
riate, and  Tiburtine  People." 

Stanza  CXLV. 

Whik  stands  the  Coliseum^  Rome  shall  stand. 

"  Quandiu  stabit  Colysaeus,  stabit  Roma ;  quando  cadet 
Colysasus,  cadet  et  Roma ;  quando  cadet  Roma,  cadet  et 
mundus."  These  words  are  quoted  by  Mr.  Gibbon*  as  a 
proof  that  the  Cohseum  was  entire  when  seen  by  the  Anglo- 

*Cap.lxxi.tom.xii.oct.  p.  41 9.  One  of  the  most  picturesque  descriptions 
of  the  effect  of  the  Coliseum  is  given  by  Ammian,who  calls  it  a  solid  mass 
of  stone-work,  to  whose  summit  the  human  eye  can  scarcely  reach. 
*'  Amphitheatri  molem  solidatam  lapidis  Tiburtini  compage,  ad  cujus 
summitatem  acgre  visio  humana  conscendti,"  lib-  xvi.  cap.  x.  p.  145 ;  a 
structure  where  there  was  sitting  room'  for  87,000  spectators,  besides 
place  for  more  than  23,000  others,  was  the  first  amphitheatre  of  the 
kind  ever  raised,  for  that  of  Statilius  Taurus  is  not  to  be  reckoned. 
Pompey's  theatre,  a  hollowed  mountain,  was  also  the  first  theatre  made 
of  stone.  The  Romans  in  both  these  works  rose  at  once  to  perfection; 
the  efifect  was  instantly  discovered  to  be  insurpassable. 


169 

Saxon  pilgrims  at  the  end  of  the  seventh  or  the  beginning  of 
the  eighth  century.  At  the  same  time,  as  they  extended 
their  admiration  to  Rome,  which  was  then  partially  destroy- 
ed, it  is  not  impossible  that  the  amphitheatre  may  have  been 
in  some  degree  dilapidated  even  in  that  early  period. 

The  fire  which,  about  the  year  219,  destroyed  the  upper 
wooden  works,  in  which,  amongst  other  conveniences,  there 
were  brothels,*  occasioned  the  repairs  of  Heliogabalus  and 
Alexander  Severus  and  Gordian  ;  and  the  frequency  of  such 
restorations  may  be  concluded  from  the  different  forms  and 
materials  lately  discovered  in  the  excavations  of  the  substruc- 
tures of  the  area.  Mention  is  made  of  a  fire  under  Decius.t 
It  was  certainly  in  all  its  glory  in  the  reign  of  Probus,  and  the 
seven  hundred  wild  beasts,  and  the  six  hundred  gladiators 
which  he  exhibited  at  once,  could  not  occupy  a  twelfth  part 
of  the  arena.  The  number  of  wild  beasts  which  might  stand 
together  in  this  arena  has  been  calculated  to  be  ten  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  seventy-nine,!  so  that  it  may  be  no  exag- 
geration to  say  that  Titus  showed  the  Roman  people  five 
thousand  in  one  day,§  or  that  Probus,  unica  missione  exhibited 
four  thousand  ostriches,  boars,  deer,  ibexes,  wild  sheep,  and 
other  graminivorous  animals,  amidst  a  forest  which  had  been 
transplanted  into  the  amphitheatre.  ||  Perhaps  it  is  not  to  be 
understood  that  they  were  slain  at  once.** 

The  Coliseum  was  struck  by  Hghtning  in  the  reign  of  Con- 
stantine,  but  repaired ;  for  the  laws  for  abolishing  gladiato- 
rial shows  were  not  observed  until  the  reign  of  Honorius  ;tt 
and  even  after  that  period,  men  fought  with  wild  beasts, 
which  seems  to  have  been  the  original  purpose  of  the  amphi- 


*  Lampridius  mentions  this  in  his  life  of  Caracalla. 

•f  In  the  Eusebian  Chronicle.  See — Maffei.  Verona.  Illustrata.  part  iv. 
pp.  36,  37.  edit.  1731. 

X  By  T.  B.  Nolli.  See — delJe  menoorie  sacre  e  profane  dell'  aufiteatro 
Flavio  dal  Canonico.  Giovanni  Marangoni.  Rom.  1746.  pp.  33,  34. 

^  "  Atque  uno  die  quinque  millia  omne  genus  ferarum."  Sucton-  m 
vit.  Tit. 

K  Vopisc.  in  Tit.  Prob.  p.  233.  Hist.  Aug.  edit.  1519. 

**  Marangoni,  ibid  p.  41. 

^t  S««  note  to  Stanza  CXLI.  in  the  notes  to  Cbilde  Harold. 


170 

theatre,  rather  than  the  combats  of  gladiators.*  The  fight- 
ing and  hunting  continued  at  least  until  the  end  of  Theodo- 
ric's  reign,  in  526,  and  the  seats  of  the  principal  senators  were 
jealously  preserved.!  Maffei  had  heard  of  an  inscription 
mentioning  a  restoration  by  that  monarch,  but  was  not  able  to 
find  such  a  record.  J  As  there  is  no  notice  of  his  repairs,  and 
as  his  admiration  of  it  is  particularly  specified,  the  dilapidation 
of  the  structure  could  not  have  been  begun  either  by  Alaric 
or  Genseric. 

It  is  just  possible  that  some  of  the  holes  which  now  dis- 
figure the  whole  surface,  may  have  been  made  by  the  extrac- 
tion of  the  metals  used  for  clamps,  which  we  have  remarked 
to  have  been  a  practice  of  the  Romans  even  before  the  Go- 
thic invasion  ;§  but  Montfaucon|(  is  strangely  mistaken  in  call- 
ing the  Barbarians  the  sole  and  sufficing  cause  of  all  these 
holes  :  no  less  is  another  writer  deceived  in  saying  they  were 
all  made  by  artisans.  Joseph  Maria  Suarez,  who  has  written 
expressly  on  this  subject,  actually  proves  nothing  with  all  his 
seven  causes,  and  has  made  a  gross  mistake  in  supposing  Vo- 
lusian  had  occupied  a  part  of  the  amphitheatre  as  a  strong 
hold  in  the  reign  of  Theodoric.**  It  was  a  box  at  the  shows 
he  had  seized,  not  a  fortress. tt  The  true  account  seems  to 
be  given  by  the  editor  of  Winkelmann,  who  believes  that  the 
greater  number  of  the  holes  were  made  for  the  extraction  of 
the  metals,  and  only  a  few,  comparatively,  for  the  insertion  of 
the  beams  and  staples  necessary  for  forming  chambers  and  di- 

*  Verona  Illustrata,  part  iv.  pp.  2,  3.  MafiFei  notices  that  Cassiodorus 
calls  it  theatrum  venatorium-  True :  but  gladiators  had  |l)een  abolished 
some  time  before,  therefore  the  authority  is  not  conclusive. 

t  Cassiod.  Variar.  epist.  42.  lib.  v.,  the  bishop  lamented  the  enormity 
of  the  sport ;  "  actu  detestabilis,  certamen  infelix,"  spectaculum  tantum 
fabricis.     Ibid,  epist  42.  lib.  iv. 

X  Verona  Tllust.  ib.  p.  37. 

5^  See  note  to  Stanza  LXXX. 

II  Montr  diar.  Jtal.  "  Unam  germanamque  causam  foraminum,"  p. 
23d.     See  note  50.     Decline  and  Fall,  tom-xii-  p.  419. 

**  Jos.  M.  Suaresii  de  foraminib.  lapid-  diatriba.  addressed  to  a  Bar- 
berini  in  1651.  ap.  Sallengre,  torn.  i.  p.  318. 

ft  "  Haccrudeli  surreptione  captata  turrem  circi,  atque  locum  amphi- 
tbeatri  illustris  recordatlonis  patris  eorum  detestabili  ambitu  a  vcstri* 
suggerujat  fascilius  expeditum."    Variar.  lib.  iv.  epist-  42. 


171 

visions,  when  the  ruin  was  made  a  place  of  defence,  in  the  first 
instance,  and  afterwards,  perhaps  a  magazine  of  manufactu- 
rers.* The  first  plunder  may  have  been  begun  in  war,  but 
was  more  the  labour  of  peace,  and  was  actually  continued  in 
the  time  of  Theodorict  The  thieves  worked  in  the  night. 
The  lead  is  still  seen  in  some  of  the  holes.  The  larger  cavi- 
ties are  to  be  attributed  to  the  other  cause. 

Totila  is  said  to  have  exhibited  the  equestrian  games  of 
the  Circus:  but  nothing  is  told  of  his  reviving  those  of  the 
amphitheatre.  Justinian  abolished  the  latter  in  every  part  of 
his  dominion :  and  from  that  period,  so  Maffei  thinks,  the  at- 
tacks of  time  and  man  began  to  be  injurious. |  The  great 
mass  of  the  external  structure  might,  however,  have  been 
entire  when  it  appeared  to  the  pilgrims  as  durable  as  the 
world  itself;  but  abandoned  to  neglect  and  exposed  to  the 
floods  and  earthquakes  of  the  seventh  century,  much  o(  the 
lower  and  more  fragile  part  of  the  work  must  have  been  de- 
faced, and  it  seems  probable  that  some  of  the  mass  itself  had 
fallen  when  it  was  occupied  by  the  Frangipane  family  in  the 
twelfth  century  or  earlier.§  Its  decay  would  facilitate  the 
conversion  by  the  supply  of  fallen  materials. 

The  author  of  the  memoir  on  the  amphitheatre||  ascribes 
the  ruin  of  the  arcades  towards  the  Caelian  mount  to  Robert 
Guiscard  :  who,  if  he  destroyed  the  structures  between  that 
mount  and  the  Capitol,**  must  necessarily  have  fallen  upon  the 
Coliseum.  What  is  certain  is,  that  for  more  than  two  centu- 
ries and  a  half  the  buildings  dedicated  to  the  amusement  con- 
tributed to  the  distresses  of  Rome.     Donatus,  and  after  him 

»  Dissertazione  sulle  Rovlne,  pp.  277, 278. 

t  Var.  Epist.  lib.  ii-  epist.  7.  lib.  iii.  epist  31. 

X  Verona  Illust.  ibid.  p.  60.  "  Allora  fu,  cheil  grand'  anfiteatro  di  Tito 
leso  inutile  comminci6  a  soffir  gl'  insulti  e  del  tempo  e  degli  uomini." 

^  Onufrius  Panvinius  in  his  MS.  memoirs  de  gente  Fregepanica  quoted 
by  Marangoni,  ibid.  49.  thinks  this  occupation  took  place  after  the  year 
1000. 

II  Ibid.  p.  50. 

*•  "  Et  majorem  urbis  partem  Coelium  inter  et  Capitolium  sitam 
evertit."  These  words  of  Leo  Ostiensis  (Ap.  Baron,  ad  an-  1084)  are 
quoted  by  Marangoni,  but  the  Abate  Fea,  Dissert  p.  895  finding  no  cer- 
tain memorial,  hesitates. 

22 


172     ' 

Mr.  Gibbon,  have  made  a  mistake  in  supposing  that  a  manu- 
factory of  silk  weavers  was  estabhshed  there  in  the  twelfth 
century.  The  Bandonarii  or  Banderarii  of  the  Coliseum  in 
1 1 92,  noticed  by  a  cotemporary  writer,*  were  the  officers 
who  carried  the  standards  of  their  school,  and  preceded  the 
pope  in  his  coronation.  No  such  employment  was  exercised 
in  the  Coliseum,  which  was  now  become  a  regular  fortress. 
Innocent  II.  took  refuge  there  in  1130;  and  the  Frangipani 
were  shortly  after  expelled,  but  made  themselves  masters  of 
it  a  second  time.  Alexander  111.  retreated  thither  from  the 
Ghibeline  faction  in  1165. 

In  1244  Henry  and  John  Frangipane  were  obliged  to  cede 
the  half  of  their  intrenchment  to  the  Annibaldi ;  but  by  the 
authority  of  Innocent  IV.  recovered  entire  possession  in  the 
course  of  the  same  year.  The  Annibaldi,  however,  succeed- 
ed in  driving  out  their  rivals  ;  and  held  the  Coliseum  up  to 
I  he  year  1312,  when  they  were  compelled  to  yield  it  to  the 
emperor  Henry  VII.  In  the  year  1332  it  was  the  property  of 
the  Senate  and  Roman  people.  This  is  the  date  of  the  bull- 
feast   of  which  Ludovico  Monaldesco   has   left  an  account! 

*  See — Ordo  Roraanus  xii.  auct-  Cencio  Camerario.  ap  Mabill.  Mu- 
seum Italic,  torn.  ii.  p.  195.  num.  52.  "  Bandonarii  Colosffii  et  Cacabarii, 
quando  dominus  Papa  roronatur,  in  cundo  et  redeundo  ipsum  cum  vexil- 
lis  praecedunt,  quasi  etenimuna  schola  est,  et  eadem  die  debent  comedere 
cum  eodem  domino  Papa.''  Tiiey  were  certain  trained  bands  of  the  dif- 
ferent quarters,  as  we  see  by  this  expression  in  Villani,  cap.  xiv.  lib.  vii. 
Itiner.  Greg.  X.  "  Currebant  Banderarii  Romani  velut  dementes  tubis 
clangentibus."  See  also  Ducange  verb.  Banderarii. — Marangoni.  p.  49. 
The  mistake  of  Donatus  is  at  lib.  iii.  cap.  vi.,  that  of  Gibbon  at  cap  Ixxi. 
p.  419.  oct.  vol.  xii. 

t  "  Annali  di  Ludovico  Monaldesco.  ap.  Script.  Rer,  Ital.  torn  xii.  p. 
5£9,  542.  A  modester  memorialist  was  never  met  with.  This  is  all  he 
says  of  himself:  "  I,  Lewis,  of  Bonconte  Monaldesco,  was  born  in  Or- 
vietto,  and  was  brought  up  in  the  city  of  Rome  where  I  li»'ed.  iwas 
born  m  the  year  1327  in  the  month  of  June,  at  the  coming  of  the  emyje- 
ror  Lewis  ;  and  now  I  will  relate  all  the  story  of  my  times,  for  1  lived  in 
the  world  a  hundred  and  fifteen  years  without  any  sickness  e\cept  at  my 
birth  and  death,  and  I  dit'd  of  old  age,  having  been  bed-.ndden  a  twelve- 
month. Sometimes  I  went  to  Oivietto  to  see  my  relations."  The  narra- 
tion of  his  own  death  is  found  j  all  the  MS-'>  and  judiciously  inserted  by 
Muratorl,  who  bears  testimony  to  the  authenticity  of  this  posthumous 
writer. 


173 

transcribed  into  the  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire. 
The  contrivance  of  such  an  exhibition  has  given  rise  to  a  per- 
suasion that  the  amphitheatre  was  then  entire  ;  but  the  adap- 
tation of  a  range  of  benches  round  the  area  would  not  be  dif- 
ficult even  now ;  and  indeed  it  will  be  observed,  it  was  re- 
solved to  renew  the  bull-fights  even  at  the  end  of  the  seven- 
teenth century. 

It  is  generally  agreed  that  the  porticos  on  the  south  side 
were  the  first  to  give  way :  and  those  who  assign  the  earliest 
date  to  the  destruction  of  the  exterior  range  of  arcades  in  this 
quarter  and  towards  the  Arch  of  Constantine,  do  not  descend 
lower  than  the  famous  earthquake  in  1349.     It  is  certain  that 
in  the  year  1381,  a  third  part  of  the  building  and  a  jurisdiction 
over  the  whole  was  granted  by  the  Senate  and  Roman  people 
to  the  religious  society  of  Sancta  Sanctorum,  who  probably 
formed  their  hospital  in  the  higher  arches  blocked  up  by  the 
Frangipani,  of  whose  walls  traces  are  yet  apparent  towards 
the  Lateran.     Their  privileges  continued  until  the  year  1510, 
and  their  property  was  recognised  in  the  beginning  of  the  se- 
venteenth century.*     The  arms  of  the  S.  P.  Q.  R.  and  of  the 
above  company,  namely,  our  Saviour  on  an  altar  between  two 
candlesticks,  are  still  seen  on  the  outside  of  the  arcades  to- 
wards the  church  of  St.  Gregory  and  the  Arch  of  Constantine, 
which  must,  therefore,  have  been,  as  they  are  now,  the  exter- 
nal range  ;  but  which,  before  the  outer  circles  had  fallen  down, 
were,  in  fact,  the  internal  arches  of  the  first  corridore.     This 
proof  seems  decisive,  that  as  early  at  least  as  the  middle  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  the  exterior  circumference  had  ceased  to 
be  "  entire  and  inviolate,"  so  that  Mr.  Gibbon,  by  following, 
or  rather  by  divining  the  mysterious  Montfaucon,  has  made 
a  mistake  of  two  hundred  years  in  assigning  that  state  of  pre- 
servation even  as  low  down  as  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century.t 

*  Marangoni,  ibid.  p.  55.  et  seq.  They  seem  to  have  made  a  claim  so 
late  as  1714,  which  was  not  attended  to.     Ibid.  p.  72. 

f  "  The  inside  was  damaged ;  but  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
an  era  of  taste  and  learnins;,  the  exterior  circumftrence  nf  IGI'2,  feet  was 
still  entire  and  inviolate,  a  triple  elevation  of  fourscore  arches,  which  rose  to 
the  height  of  1  OH  feet-     Of  the  present  ruin,  the  nepheus  of  Paul  III.  are  the 


174 

A  letttr  in  the  Vatican  library  from  the  bishop  of  Orvietto, 
legate  to  Pope  Urban  V.,  about  the  year  1362,  is  said  to  inform 
tliat  pontiff  that  the  stones  of  the  CoHseum  had  been  offered 
for  sale,  but  had  found  no  other  purchaser  than  the  Frangi- 
pane  family,  who  wished  to  buy  them  for  the  construction  of 
a  palace.  The  editor  of  Winkelmann  was,  however,*  unable 
to  find  this  letter :  and  it  is  somewhat  singular  that  no  search 
has  as  yet  been  able  to  discover  the  document  which  Barthel- 
emy  saw  in  the  archives  of  the  Vatican,  and  which  contained 
a  common  privilege  granted  to  the  factions  of  Rome,  of  "  dig- 
ging out"  stones  from  the  Coliseum.!  The  author  of  Ana- 
eharsis,  however,  can  hardly  be  suspected  of  an  imposture  ; 
and  the  exaggeration  of  Poggio,  who  says  that  in  his  time  the 
greater  part  of  the  amphitheatre  had  been  reduced  to  hme,J 
bespeaks  some  terrible  devastation  not  at  all  reconcileable 
with  that  integrity  which  Mr.  Gibbon  affirms  to  have  been 
preserved  up  to  the  time  of  Paul  III.  The  historian  quotes 
both  the  document  of  Barthelemy  and  the  lamentation  of  the 
Florentine,  and  there  is  no  way  of  accounting  for  his  error  ex- 
cept by  supposing  that  he  applied  all  dilapidation  previous  to 
that  period  solely  to  the  interior  elevation,  which,  however, 
would  be  also  a  mistake.  Blondus  has  besides  left  a  memo- 
rial of  the  ruin  a  hundred  years  before  the  pontificate  of  Paul 

guUly  agents :"  Decline  and  Fall,  cap.  Ixxi.  [)•  424.  and  note  63.  ^fter 
measunng  the  priscus  amphitheutri  gyrus,  Montfaucon,  p.  142,  only  adds 
that  it  was  entire  under  Paul  III.  Tactndo  clamat.  Muratori,  Annali 
d'  Italia,  torn-  xiv.  p.  37 1,  more  freely  reports  the  guilt  of  the  Famese  popt 
and  the  indignation  of  the  Roman  people-  Look  into  Muratori,  you  find 
these  words :  "  Per  fabbricare  il  Palazzo  Famese  gran  guasto  diede  all 
anfiteatro  di  Tito.  Fece  gridare  il  cIpio  e  i  Popoli  siioi  per  le  gravezze 
loro  accresciute."  Annali.  ad  an.  1549.  torn- x.  p.  335.  The  indignation 
of  the  people  was  for  the  taxes,  not  tiie  destruction  of  the  Coliseum. 

*  Dissertazione,  &c.  p.  399. 

t  "  Et  prseterea,  si  ornnes  concordarent  de  faciendo  Tiburtino  quod  es- 
set  comnnune  id  quod  foderetur."  Memoires  de  I'academie  des  inscrip- 
tions, torn-  xxviii,  p.  585.  also  published  separately. 

J  "  Ob  stultitlam  Romanorum  majori  ex  parte  ad  calcem  redactum." 
De  Variet.  Fortun.  in  loco  cit  Poor  Marangoni  interprets  this  folly  to  be 
their  rebellion  against,  not  the  amphitheatre,  but  the  pope.  "  Non  oscu- 
ramente  attribuendo  queste  rovine  alia  stoltezza  de'  Roraani  ribeUaii  con- 
tro  il  Pontefice."    Ibid.  p.  47. 


175 

• 

III.*  In  fact  we  have  seen  that  Paul  II.  had  before  employ- 
ed many  of  the  blocks  of  travertine  for  his  palace  of  Saint 
Mark;  and  Cardinal  Riario  for  that  of  the  Chancellery.! 
Theodoric  thought  a  capital  city  might  be  built  with  the 
wealth  expended  on  the  Coliseum,^  and  indeed  some  of  the 
noblest  palaces  of  modern  Rome  have  been  constructed  out  of 
a  small  portion  of  the  ruins.  There  appears  to  have  been  a 
sale  of  some  of  the  stones  in  1531,  and  in  the  next  century 
others  were  employed  in  one  of  the  buildings  on  the  Capitol. § 
But  all  lesser  plunder  has  been  obhterated  by  the  more 
splendid  rapine  of  the  Farnese  princes.  The  Baths  of  Con- 
stantine,  the  Forum  of  Trajan,  the  Arch  of  Titus,  the  Temple 
of  Antoninus  and  Faustina,  the  Theatre  of  Marcellus,  added 
their  marbles  to  the  spoils  of  the  Coliseum:  and  the  accounts 
of  the  Apostolic  chamber  record  a  sum  of  7,317,888  crowns 
expended  between  the  years  1541  and  1549  upon  the  gigantic 
palace  of  Campo  di  Fiore  alone. ||  Whether  the  progress  of 
decay  was  anticipated  and  aided,  or  whether  such  blocks  only 
as  had  already  fallen  were  applied  to  the  purposes  of  con- 
struction, is  still  a  disputed  point.  Martinelli**  has  dared  to 
believe  in  the  more  unpardonable  outrage,  whilst  Marangoni 
has  stepped  forward  to  defend  the  Popes,  but  candidly  owns 

*  Both  he  and  Lucius  Faunus  and  MartineHi  attributed  the  ruin  to  the 
Goths,  mistaking  an  order  of  Theodoric  to  repair  the  Avails  of  Catania 
with  the  stones  of  an  amphitheatre,  as  if  it  applied  to  the  Coliseum.  Ma- 
rangoni, ibid.  p.  44- 

t  "  Paulus  II.  aedes  adhuc  Cardinalis  ad  S-  Marci  amplissimas  extruere 
ceperat :  quas  deinde  cum  Pontifex  aedificaret  ex  aniphitheatri  minis  uti 
postea  Raphael Riarius  et  Alexander  Farnesius  fecisse  dicuntur"  Dona- 
tus,  lib.  iv.  cap.  ix.  This  is  but  a  delicate  phrase,  if  Paul  III-  had  really 
thrown  down  the  outside  ranges. 

J  Cassiod.  epist.  xlii.  lib.  iv. 

^  In  1604:  these  facts  are  stated  from  the  documents  in  Marangoni, 
p.  56. 

II  Dissertazione,  kc  p.  399.  note  c.  The  mention  of  the  Theatre  of 
Marcellus  has  been  added  from  Venuti  Roma  Moderna,  in  his  account 
of  the  Farnese  palace. 

**  Roma  Ricercata  nel  suo  sito.  giorn.  6.  Marangoni,  ibid.  p.  47.  Mar- 
tineHi says,  Paul  11-  cut  down  the  arches  toicards  St.  John  and  St,  Paul ; 
butPlatina,  who  had  been  imprisoned  by  that  pontilTand  would  not  havt; 
been  silent,  {perhaps,)  notices  no  such  attack  in  his  life  of  Paol. 


176  ^ 

that  Paul  HI.  and  Riario  may  have  thrown  down  many  of  the 
inner  arches. 

Amongst  the  projects  of  Sixtus  Quintus,  was  that  of  estab- 
lishing a  woollen  manufactory  in  the  Coliseum,  which  had  be- 
fore given  shelter  to  the  artisans  of  periodical  fairs,  and  ac- 
cording to  what  we  can  collect  of  the  plan  from  Fontana,*  it 
appears  that  if  it  had  been  carried  into  execution,  the  arcades 
of  the  Coliseum  would  have  been  entirely  closed  up.  and  the 
whole  mass  have  been  converted  to  a  circuit  of  dirty  dens 
Tike  the  Theatre  of  Marcellus.  Mabillon,  who  says  that  if 
Sixtus  had  lived  a  year  longer,  we  should  have  had  the  Coli- 
seum entirely  restored, t  talks  as  if  he  had  never  been  at 
Rome,  or  opened  a  single  book  on  the  subject. 

In  1394,  some  of  the  upper  arches  were  occupied  by  me- 
chanics,! who  paid  a  pound  of  wax  quit-rent  to  the  arch  con- 
fi-atemity  of  the  Roman  Gonfalonier. 

The  papal  government  must  be  charged  with  neglect,  if  not 
with  spoliation.  Of  the  wall  said  to  be  built  round  the  Coli- 
seum by  Eugenius  IV.,  there  is  no  authentic  record.  Mr. 
Gibbon  quoted  it  from  Montfaucon,  who  took  it  from  Flami- 
nius  Vacca,  who  lived  more  than  a  hundred  years  after  Euge- 
nius, and  reported  it  on  hearsay. §  This  majestic  relic,  which 
had  been  protected  as  a  barrack,  a  hospital,  and  a  bazar,  and 
which  more  enlightened  ages  considered  only  as  a  convenient 
quarry,  seems  never  to  have  been  estimated  in  its  true  cha- 
racter, nor  presei'ved  as  the  noblest  monument  of  Imperial 
Rome,  until  a  very  late  period.  Piety  had  interfered  but 
feebly,  notwithstanding  the  claims  of  the  amphitheatre  to  vene- 

*  Some  of  the  earth  was  cleared  away  and  excavations  made  in  the 
area,  and  Sixtus  had  already  advanced  15,000  crowns  to  merchants  to 
'•  establish  the  manufactory."  Fontana — di  alcune  Fabbriche  fatte  in 
Roma  da  PP.  Sisto  V.  Marangoni,  ibid.  p.  60,  Gl. 

f  "  Vixisset  Sixtus  V.  et  amphitheatrum,  stupendum  illud  opus,  inte- 
gratum  nunc  haberemus."     Iter.  Ital.  num.  xxix.  Mus.  Ital.  torn-  i.  p.  74. 

X  Marangoni,  ibid.  p.  71,  72. 

i^  Intesi  dire,  fee.  Vacca  heard  it  from  certain  Olivetan  monks  of  San- 
ta Maria  Nova;  but  Marangoni  looked  over  their  archives,  and  found  no 
huch  record,  nor  have  the  Olivetans  yiretciided  to  the  property,  ibid.  p.  58. 


177 

ration.  Fontana,  in  his  work,*  had  intended  to  give  a  list  of 
the  martyrs  who  suffered  there,  but  employed  a  person  to  fur- 
nish his  catalogue  who  is  owned  to  liave  been  of  no  very  criti- 
cal capacity,  and  to  have  inserted  names  to  which  this  arena 
could  not  pretend.  The  more  judicious  Maranconi,  who  will 
follow  no  blind  guides,  nor  any  less  respectable  authority  than 
the  Roman  martyrology,  or  the  sincere  acts  of  Ruinart,  or  Su- 
rio,  or  Peter  de  Natalibus,  thinks  it  a  supportable  conjecture, 
that  Gaudentius  was  the  architect  who  built  it,  and  was  put  to 
death  for  his  Christianity  by  Vespasian.  The  excellent  Vi- 
centine  Canon  forgot  that  he  had  just  mentioned  that  the  com- 
pletion of  the  work  took  place  after  the  death  of  that  empe- 
ror. He  will,  however,  positively  name  no  more  than  eigh- 
teen martyrs  of  the  male  sex,  beginning  with  Saint  Ignacius, 
and  ending  with  Telemachus,  together  with  six  females,  four 
of  whom  are  hardly  to  be  reckoned  amongst  the  triumphs  of 
the  arena,  as  the  lions  refused  to  injure  them,t  and  they  were 
reserved  for  less  discriminating  executioners.  The  hst  is 
considerably  swelled  with  two  hundred  and  sixty  "  anonymous 
soldiers,"  who,  after  digging  an  arena  without  the  Salarian 
gate,  were  rewarded  with  death,  which  the  Christian  fasti  call 
martyrdom,  on  the  first  of  March,  in  the  reign  of  Claudius  II.  j 
Marangoni  avers  that  no  memorial  remains  of  the  exact 
contrivance  by  which  the  sufferers  were  exposed  to  the  wild 
beasts,  although  there  are  so  many  left  of  the  conversion  of 


*  L'Anflteatro  Flavio  descritto,  e  deiineato,  dal  Cav.  Carlo  Fontana. 
Hag.  1725.     Marangoni,  ib.  p.  25. 

t  S.  Martina,  S.  Tatiana,  S.  Prisca,  were  all  exposed  to  lions,  who  lick- 
ed their  feet:  also,  "  S.  Daria  verg.  sposa  di  S.  Crisanto,  come  crede  il 
Martinelli,  fu  esposta  dal  Tiranno  all'  ignominia,  sotto  le  volte  dell'  anfitea- 
tro,  ove  da  un  lione  fu  difesa  la  di  lei  castita,"  ibid.  p.  25.  Then  comes 
much  learning  to  prove  there  were  brothels  in  the  amphitheatre,  which 
appears  certain  ;  but  that  there  were  lions  in  waiting  may  want  confirma- 
tion. The  lions  being  found  good  Christians,  at  least  where  females  were 
concerned,  virgins  were  condemned  to  worse  than  death  from  the  vio- 
lence of  men,  and  it  became  a  proverb,  "  Christiani  ad  leones  virgines  ad 
lenones"  See — Aringhi  Roma  Subtcrranea,  lib  ii-  cap.  i.  tom.  i.  p.  197. 
num.23,  edit.  1651. 

\  "  Dugento,  e  LX.  MM.  anonimi  soldati,  sotto  lo  stesso  Claudio  II." 
kc.    Ib.  iH. 


178 

tlic  lions  :  but  he  might  have  seen  the  small  bronze  reliefs  at 
the  Vatican  found  in  the  Catacombs,  where  the  lions  are  seen 
chained  to  a  pilaster,  and  the  martyr  unarmed  and  half  naked 
at  their  feet.  That  some  Christians  suffered  amongst  other 
criminals  is  extremely  probable.  We  learn  from  Marshal,* 
that  the  amphitheatre  was  a  place  of  execution,  and  that  un- 
der Domitian  the  spectators  were  glutted  with  burnings  and 
crucifixions.  Those  who  had  the  noble  courage  to  die  for 
their  faith,  would  be  punished  and  confounded,  except  by 
their  own  sect,  with  other  rebellious  subjects  of  the  empire. 
It  appears  that  the  condemned  were  brought  in  at  the  close  of 
the  day,  and  that  the  gladiatorial  shows  were  terminated  with 
these  horrors. 

The  Canon,  in  order  to  show  how  much  the  Coliseum  was 
always  esteemed  by  the  pious,  relates  that  St.  Philip  Neri 
was  tempted  by  the  devil  there  in  the  shape  of  a  naked  wo- 
man,! and  that  a  friend  of  Saint  Ignatius  Loyola  had  a  hun- 
dred gold  crowns  given  to  him  b  y  a  messenger  from  the  mar- 
tyrs who  had  suffered  there,  and  who  were  the  peculiar  ob- 
jects of  Loyola's  devotions. |    Moreover,  Pius  V.  used  to  say, 


*  Epig.  24.  lib.  X.     Epig.  7.  ibid.  37. 

f  The  story  is  told  from  Father  Bacci's  life  of  Saint  Philip  Neri,  lib.  i. 
cap.  V.  n.  viii. ;  but  Marangoni,  in  relating  it,  does  not  observe  that  the 
devil  must  have  been  as  fond  of  the  Coliseum  as  the  saint.  Neri  was  a 
ver}^  considerable  person  in  his  day,  and  raised  several  people  from  the 
dead,  particularly  a  youth  of  the  Massimi  family,  on  the  17th  of  the  ka- 
lends of  April  in  1583.  This  family,  one  of  the  noblest,  and  descended 
(so  it  is  thought)  from  the  Fabii,  have  attested  the  fact,  by  building  a 
chapel  in  their  own  palace,  and  by  performing  an  annual  service  there, 
when  they  distribute  pictures  of  the  miracle,  drawn  in  1761  by  order  of 
Camillus  Marquis  Massimi,  with  a  subjoined  account  of  it  just  as  it  hap- 
pened, in  the  presence  of  the  father  and  many  witnesses.  Very  nearly 
the  same  time  that  Neri  was  raising  the  dead  in  Rome,  Lord  Bacon  was 
spreading  his  philosophy  in  London. 

t  John  Cruccius  was  the  man's  name — the  messenger  disappeared, 
;ifter  giving  the  crowns.  Cruccius  came  home  and  told  Ignatius,  "  II  S. 
Padre  tosto  rese  grazie  a  Dio,  senza  dimostrare  alcun  segno  di  raaravig- 
lia,  forse  avendone  avuto  alcun  lume  superiore  :  ma  quanto  alia  circos- 
tanza  del  luogo,  che  fu  I'anfiteatro,  sembra  potersi  credere,  che  seguisse 
anchc  per  intercessione  de'  SS.  Martiri,  de'  quali  S.  Ignazio  fu  divotissi- 


179 

that  he  who  wanted  relics  should  take  some  earth  from  the 
arena,  which  was  cemented  with  so  much  holy  blood  :*  and 
Cardinal  Uderic  Carpegna  always  stopped  his  coach  opposite 
to  the  Coliseum,  and  repeated  the  names  of  all  the  martyrs 
who  had  been  sacrificed  on  that  spot.f  His  eminence's  pa- 
tience and  piety  were  not,  as  we  have  seen,  put  to  any  very 
severe  test.  Yet,  in  spite  of  the  sanctity  of  the  earth,  the 
structure  itself  was  little  benefited. 

At  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  a  little  church,  with  a 
bell  and  a  contiguous  hermitage,  were  consecrated  by  Julio 
Sansedonio,  patrician  of  Sienna,  and  bishop  of  Grossetto,  and 
this  structure  was  repaired,  in  1G29,  in  those  arches  where 
the  hermitage  and  chapel  are  now  seen. 

It  was  above  the  site  of  this  church,  on  a  wide  platform 
which  had  been  left  entire  over  the  arches  of  the  old  steps  of 
the  amphitheatre,  that,  from  sometime  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
the  "  Passion  of  our  Saviour"  had  been  perfomned  on  every 
Good  Friday,  by  expert  actors,  to  an  audience  which  Panciro- 
lus,  in  his  "  Hidden  Treasures, "J  affirms  was  equal  to  that  of 
the  ancient  games.  We  have  notice  of  the  "  Resurrection" 
written  by  Julian  Dati,  the  Florentine,  also  performed  at  the 
Cohseum,  although  the  date  in  which  that  sacred  farce  (they 
are  Tiraboschi's  words§)  was  composed,  cannot  be  precisely 
assigned.  It  might  be  contemporary  with  the  Abraham  and 
Isaac,  acted  at  Florence,  in  1449,  with  the  "  Balaam  and  Josa- 
phat,"  "  the  Conversion  of  Saint  Paul,"  and  other  mysteries 
brought  upon  the  stage  in  the  latter  half  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury. 

These  representations  continued  in  the  Coliseum  until  the 


mo."    Marang.  ib  63.    This  is  the  way  that  books,  and  very  good  books 
too,  are  written  at  Rome. 

*  lb.  64. 

t  "  Ed  a  tempi  nostri,  son  io  testimonio,  chc  ogni  quaJunque  volto  sono 
ivi  passato  col  Signoi'  Cardinale  Ulderico  Carpegna.  quf?3to  piissimo  Sig- 
nore  ha  fatto  sempre  fermare  la  carozza  con  fare  la  commemorazione  d«' 
SS.  Martiri,  che  ivi  gloriosamente  trionfarono.''     Ib.  64. 

I  Tesori  nascosti,  ibid.  59. 

^  "  Non  possiamo  accertare  quii-ido  quella  sacra  f;irsa  fosse  da  lui 
composta."    Storia  della  Lett.  Ital.  torn.  vi.  par.  iii-  lib.  iii.  p.  814. 

23 


180 

reign  of  Paul  III.,  whose  prohibition  to  continue  them  be- 
speaks him  perhaps  guilty  of  devoting  the  building  to  his  own 
purposes  of  plunder. 

With  the  exception  of  the  above-mentioned  chapel-build- 
ing,* we  lose  sight  of  the  destination  of  the  amphitheatre, 
until  1671,  when  permission  was  obtained  from  Cardinal  Al- 
tieri,  and  the  Senate,  to  represent  bull  fights  in  the  arena 
for  the  space  of  six  years,  and  this  would  have  certainly  taken 
place  had  not  Clement  X.  listened  to  the  deprecations  of 
Carlo  Tommassi,  who  wrote  a  treatise  to  prove  the  sanctity 
of  the  spot.t  In  consequence,  the  pontiff  employed  the  less 
pious  zeal  of  Bernini,  and  by  some  arrangements  of  that  ar- 
tist set  apart  the  whole  monument  to  the  worship  of  the 
martyrs.  This  was  in  1675,  the  year  of  the  jubilee. |  The 
measure  then  taken  to  prevent  the  entrance  of  men,  and  ani- 
mals, and  carriages,  by  means  of  blocking  up  the  lower 
arches,  and  to  put  a  stop  to  nightly  disorders,  were,  however, 
found  insufficient,  and  Clement  XL,  in  1714,  employed  Bi- 
anchini  in  repairing  the  walls,  and  finding  other  methods  of 
closing  the  arcades  ;  and  about  that  time  were  also  erected 
the  altars  of  the  Passion.  A  short  time  afterwards  was  paint- 
ed the  picture  of  Jerusalem  and  the  Crucifixion,  still  seen 
within  the  western  entrance. 

The  Romans  were  not  pleased  with  being  excluded  from 
their  amphitheatre,  and  in  1715  made  an  application  for  the 

*  Bramante  Barsi  got  permission  to  excavate  there  in  1639- 
t  The  senate  granted  the  permission,  reserving  a  box  for  themselves, 
holding  twenty  persons,  "  senza  pagamento  alcunc"     See  the  document 
in  Marangoni,  p.  72- 

i  One  of  the  inscriptions  affixed  on  that  occasion  runs  thus — 

"  Amphitheatrnm  Flavium 

Non  tam  operis  mole  et  artificio  ac  veterura 

Spectaculorum  memoria 

Quam  Sacro  innumerabilium  Martj'rum 

Cniore  iUustre 

Venerabundus  hospes  ingredere 

Et  in  Augusto  magnitudinis  Romanfe  monuments 

Execrata  Cajsarum  sa;vitia 

Heroes  Fortitudinis  Christianae  suspice 

Et  exora 

Anno  Jubilaji.    MDCLXXV. 


181 

keys,  which  the  pope  refused.  The  neglect  of  the  interior 
may  be  collected  from  a  petition  presented  in  1727,  to  alirw 
the  hermit  to  let  out  the  grafts  which  grew  on  the  surface  of  the 
arena.*  A  solitary  saint  had  been  established  in  the  ruins  at 
the  first  building  of  the  chapel,  and  it  is  to  a  respect  for  one 
of  his  successors  that  we  owe  an  interposition  in  favour  of 
the  Coliseum,  which  it  would  perhaps  never  have  command- 
ed on  its  own  account.  An  attempt  was  made  in  the  night  of 
the  11th  of  February,  1742,  to  assassinate  the  hermit,  Fran- 
cis Beaufort,  and  it  was  expressly  on  that  occasion  that  the 
accomplished  Lambertini  was  induced  to  renew  the  conse- 
cration of  the  Cohseum.t  His  enclosures  and  edicts  cleared 
it  of  murderers  and  prostitutes,  and  repaired  the  fourteen 
altars,  and  erected  the  cross :  but  in  spite  of  this  judicious 
interference,  and  whatever  were  the  cares  of  the  truly  anti- 
quarian Braschi,  half  a  century  seems  to  have  much  hastened 
the  progress  of  decay,  and  in  1801  the  most  intelligent  of 
our  countrymen  foresaw  the  speedy  dissolution  of  the  whole 
structure. I 

The  great  earthquake  in  1 703,  which  threw  down  several 
large  masses  towards  the  church  of  St.  Gregory, §  most  pro- 
bably loosened  other  portions  of  the  ruin.  The  late  govern- 
ment has  propped  the  tottering  fragment,  and  the  immense 
buttress,  which  is  modestly  marked  with  the  name  and  num- 
ber of  Pius  VII.,  and  is  said  to  have  cost  seventy  thousand 
crowns,  will  help  to  secure  the  yawning  rents  on  the  side 
towards  the  Lateran.  Sentinels  have  been  found  a  more 
effectual  protection  than  Uie  hermit,  or  the  cross,  or  the 
walls. 

*  Marangoni,  ib.  p.  73 

t  The  author  of  the  memoir  attributes  the  profanations  suffered  by  the 
CoJiseum  to  the  devil  himself.  "  Ma  poichfe  i'infernale  inimico  continua- 
mcnte  procura,"  fcc-  p  67-     Bt-nedict's  edict  bears  date  1744- 

I  See — Forsyth's  Remarl<s,  k,c  p  146.  2d  edit- 

5^  Marangoni  calls  it  ii  wing  of  the  building,  on  the  authority  of  Fico- 
roni,  who  was  in  Rome  at  the  time.  Vestigia  e  rariti  di  Roma,  p-  89. 
"  Essendo  caduta  un  ala  del  Colosseo  verso  San  Gregorio,"  ib  n  48. 
One  of  the  internal  arcades  also  fell  down  on  the  day  on  which  Innocent 
XI.  died,  12th  of  August,  1689. 


182 

•r 

With  the  leave  of  Maffei,*  there  is  still  something  more 
than  a  piece  of  the  bark  left  to  wonder  at.  The  antiquary 
may  profit  by  the  recent  exposure  of  the  substructures  of  the 
arena ;  but  the  clearing  away  of  the  soil,  and  the  opening 
the  arches,  increases  the  satisfaction  of  the  unlearned,  though 
devout  admirers,  who  are  capable  of  being  affected  by  the 
general  result,  however  little  they  understand  the  individual 
details,  and  who  wander  amidst  these  stupendous  ruins  for  no 
other  instruction  than  that  which  must  be  suggested  by  so 
awful  a  memorial  of  fallen  empire. 


Stanza  CXLVI. 

Sanctuary  and  home 
Of  a)1  and  piety — Pantheon ! — pride  of  Rome. 

Whether  the  Pantheon  be  the  calidarium  of  a  bath  or  a 
temple,  or  a  single  or  a  double  building,  it  is  evidently  that 
structure  of  which  the  ancients  themselves  spoke  with  rapture, 
as  one  of  the  wonders  of  Rome :  whose  vault  was  like  the 
heavens,!  and  whose  compass  was  that  of  a  whole  region.  J 

Notwithstanding  the  repairs  of  Domitian,  Hadrian,  and  Se- 
verus  and  Caracalla,  it  is  probable  that  the  later  artists  copied 
the  old  model,  and  that  the  Portico  may  still  be  said  to  be- 
long to  the  age  of  Augustus.  Knowing  that  we  see  what  was 
one  of  the  most  superb  edifices  of  the  ancient  city,  in  the 
best  period  of  its  architecture,  we  are  surprised,  when  look- 
ing down  on  the  Pantheon  from  oj^e  of  the  summits  of  Rome, 
with  the  mean  appearance  of  its  flat  leaden  dome,  compared 
with  the  many  towering  structures  of  the  modern  town ;  but 
the  sight  of  the  Portico  from  the  opposite  extremity  of  the 
market-place  in  front  of  the  Rotonda,  vindicates  the  majesty 
of  the  ancient  capital. 

*  "  Che  genera  ancor  maraviglia  con  quel  pezzo  della  corteccia  cbe  ne 
sussiste."    Veron.  Illust.  p.  iv  p.  24. 

•[  ''  wy  Se  £yu»  vofti^a  oft  doikoeiSsi  ov  t^ovpav^  TtpoijEOtxtr. ''  Dion.  Hlst- 
Rom.  lib  iiii.  torn.  i.  p.  722. 

I  "  Pantheum  velut  regionem  terretem  speciosa  ctlsitudine  fornica- 
tam."    Amm.  Marcell  lib.  xvi.  cap.  x.  p.  145. 


183 

The  Abate  Lazeri*  has  done  his  utmost  to  prove  this  struc- 
ture a  bath,  or,  at  least,  not  a  temple  ;  or  if  it  were  a  temple, 
he  would  show  that  a  temple  does  not  always  mean  a  religious 
edifice,  but  sometimes  a  tomb,  and  sometimes  the  mast  of  a 
ship  ;  and  that  Pantheon  was  a  band  of  soldiers.  However, 
as  our  Pantheon  is  neither  one  nor  the  other  of  these  three, 
we  need  not  embarrass  ourselves  with  the  name,  which  was  a 
difficulty  even  in  ancient  times.  Dion  ascribed  it  to  the  ex- 
panding vault,  but  tells  that  others  referred  it  to  the  resemb- 
lance to  several  deities  observed  in  certain  statues  of  Venus 
and  Mars.t  There  is  no  evidence  that  it  was  dedicated  to  all 
the  gods,  although  such  a  persuasion  prevailed  with  the  early 
Christian  writers  -.J  nor  is  there  any  authority  for  the  asser- 
tion of  the  pilgrim  of  the  thirteenth  century,  that  Cybele  and 
Neptune  were  the  original  possessors  of  this  temple. 

The  words  of  Pliny  should  be  reckoned  decisive,  that  the 
Pantheon  was  dedicated  to  Jove  the  Avenger  ;§  and  Lazeri 
has  only  one  way  of  getting  rid  of  this  witness,  which  is  by 
remarking,  that  all  places  dedicated  to  gods  were  not  neces- 
sarily temples.  In  his  reply  to  objections  he  rather  gives  way, 
and  retreats  to  the  ground  that  the  Christians  did  not  think  it 
a  temple,  or  they  would  have  destroyed  it,  as  they  did  all 
other  edifices  devoted  to  the  pagan  religion  !  !  This  is  the 
strength  of  his  argument ;  and,  up  to  a  certain  point,  he 
makes  out  his  case  better  against,  or,  as  he  thought,  for,  the 
Christians,  than  against  the  pretensions  of  Jupiter  to  his 
claims  over  the  Pantheon.     In  both  one  and  the  other  posi- 


»  Discorso  di  Pietro  Lazeri  della  consecrazione  del  Panteone  fatta  da 
Bonifazio  IV.  Roma,  1749. 

t  Hist.  Rom-  in  loc-  citat. 

X  Paul  the  deacon — the  martyrology.  "  Idem  (Focas)  Papa  Bonifa- 
cio petente,  jussit  in  veteri  fano,  quod  Panteon  vocabant,  ablatis  idola- 
tria;  sordibus,  Ecclesiam  Beatae  semper  Virginis  Marise,  et  omnium  Mar- 
tyrum  fieri,  ut  ubi  omnium  non  Deorum,  sed  Dsemonum  cultus  erat,  ibi 
deinceps  fieret  omnium  memoria  sanctorum."  De  gest.  Lang.  lib.  iv 
cap.  xxxvii  p.  464,  Script  Rer.  Ital.  tom  i. 

^  "  Pantheon  Jovi  Ultori  ab   Agrippa  factum,  cum  theatmin  ante  tex- 
eri't  Ronre."    Nat.  Hist,  lib  xxxvi   cap   xv. 


184 

lion  the  Abate  has  fallen  into  errors  for  which  he  has  been 
sharply  reproved  by  the  editor  of  Winkelmann.* 

The  positive  merit  of  "  saving  and  converting  the  majestic 
structure  of  the  Pantheon"!  would  have  been  greater,  if  the 
consecration  had  taken  place  earlier  than  two  hundred  years 
after  the  triumph  of  Christianity.  From  the  shutting  of  the 
temples  in  the  reign  of  Honorius  to  the  year  609,  it  must  have 
been  abandoned  to  the  ravages  of  neglect.  Vain  attempts 
have  been  made  to  prove  that  it  was  dedicated  before  the 
above  date,|  but  all  the  writers  are  of  accord  in  this  point : 
there  is  only  some  doubt  whether  all  the  Saints  should  not  be 
esteemed  the  iirst  possessors  of  the  Christian  church,  instead 
of  all  the  Martyrs.  It  seems,  that  as  early  as  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, the  Saints  were  worshipped  with  the  Martyrs  ;§  and,  in- 
deed, as  martyrdom  grew  more  rare  every  day,  and  was  not 
to  be  had,  except  now  and  then  from  an  Arian  tyrant,  it  is 
probable  that  simple  saintship  was  regarded  as  a  just  title  to 
an  apotheosis.  Gregory  IV.  changed  the  martyrs,  however, 
into  saints,  at  the  re-consecration  in  830,  though  the  ancient 
name  was  still  preserved — Beata  Mctria  ad  Marty res.\[ 

The  positive  merit  of  saving  the  Pantheon  would  have  been 
more  complete,  if  ths  pontiffs  had  not  afterwards  converted 
it  to  a  fortress,  which,  in  the  tim3  of  Gregory  VII.  was  called 
S.  Maria  in  iurribus,  and  was  defended  by  the  anti-pope,  Cle- 
ment III.  when  the  Countess  Matilda  came  to  Rome  in  1087.** 
It  appears,  from  the  form  of  an  oath  taken  by  the  Senators  of 
Rome  in  the  time  of  Celestine  III.  about  the  year  1191,  that 
it  could  receive  a  papal  garrison,  and  was,  together  with  the 
island  of  the  Tiber,  and  the  castle  of  Saint  Angelo,  fortified 
against  the  enemies  of  the  church. tt 

*  Dissertazione  siille  Rovine,  &c.  p  281,  note  (c.) 

f  Decline  and  Fall,  cap.  Ixvi.  torn.  xii.  p  408. 

X  By  father  Martcne-     Discorso,  &.c  p  4. 

<5  Mabillon,  Cardinal  Bona,  and  Fontanini,  are  of  this  opinion.  Dis- 
corso, p.  4. 

II  \.nastas  in  vit.  Grog.  IV.  p.  £26.     Script-  Rer.  Ital.  torn.  iii. 

**  Baron,  annal-  ccclesias.  ad  an.  1087. 

tt  iMabillon.  Mus.  Ttal.  torn.  ii.  Ordo  Romanus,  num.  86-  p.  215.  Ju- 
raraentum  senatorum  urbis — "  nominatiui  autem  sanctum  Pelrum,  urbem 


185 

The  pontiffs  would  have  deserved  more  praise  if  they  had 
not  added  and  taken  away  ornaments  at  will ;  if  Urban  VIII.* 
had  not  imitated  the  wretched  Constans,  and  if  he  had  not 
added  his  hideous  belfries  ;  if  Alexander  VII.  had  cleared 
away  all,  instead  of  hftlf,  of  the  buildings  which  blocked  up 
the  Rotonda ;  if  Gregory  XIII.  and  Clement  XI.  had  opened 
a  wider  space  in  front ;  and,  lastly,  if  Benedict  XIV.  had  not 
white-washed  the  interior  of  the  vault.  The  leaden  roof, 
and  the  three  supplied  pillars,  and  other  frequent  repairs,  are 
to  be  registered  amongst  the  merits  of  the  Popes  ;  but,  judging 
from  the  general  appearance,  we  shall  no  where  find  a  more 
striking  example  of  the  neglect  of  the  ancient  structures  of 
Rome,  than  at  the  Pantheon.  Of  this  the  common  anti- 
quarian artists  are  so  sensible,  that  they  do  not  represent  the 
edifice  as  it  is,  but  as  it  should  be,  in  an  open  space,  where 
all  its  beauties  may  be  beheld  and  approached. 

The  piety,  if  not  the  taste,  of  the  pontiffs  should  be  in- 
terested in  the  decent  preservation  of  this  monument ;  and  if 
the  names  of  heroes  and  emperors,  if  Jove  and  his  gods  are 
of  no  avail,  respect  for  the  founder,  Boniface,  and  twenty- 
eight  cartloads  of  relics,!  the  worship  of  the  Virgin  and  all 

Rumanam,  civatatera  Leoninam,  transtyberim,  insulam,  castellum  Cres- 
centii,  sanctara  Mariam  Rotundam."  All  these  the  senator  swore  to  as- 
sist the  Pope  to  retain. 

*  Urban  made  a  boast  of  his  robbery,  and  affixed  this  inscription  un- 
der the  portico :  "  Urbanus  VIII.  Pont.  Max.  Vetustas  ahenei  lacunaris 
reliquias  in  vaticanas  columnas  et  bellica  tormenta,  conflavit  ut  decora 
inutilia  et  ipsi  prope  famae  ignota  fierent  in  Vaticano  templo  apostolici 
sepulchri  ornamenta  in  Hadriana  arce  instruraenta  publicie  securitatis, 
anno  Domini  mocxxxh.  Pontific.  IX." 

f  The  twenty-eight  cartloads  of  relics  are  founded  on  the  authority  of 
an  old  MS.  cited  by  Baronius  in  his  notes  to  the  Martyrology.  Anastasius 
does  not  particularize  the  exact  quantity  of  relics,  but  only  says  that 
Boniface  brought  many  good  things  into  the  church.  "  Eodem  tempore 
petiit  a  Phocata  Principe  tempium  quod  appellatur  Pantheon.  In  quo 
fecit  ecclesiam  Sanctee  Mariae  semper  Virginis  tt  omnium  martyrum.  In 
qua  ecclesia  Princeps  multa  bona  intulit "  De  Vitis  Roman.  Pontif. 
Script.  Rer.  Ital.  torn.  iii.  p.  135.  The  Abate  Lazeri  defends  Buiiiface  for 
his  transport  of  relics,  saying,  "  and  if  it  is  true  that  which  the  author  of 
the  wonders  of  R(»rae  tells  of  the  Pantheon,  that,  before  it  was  dedicated, 
the  demons  used  to  attack  with  blows  those  who  came  near  it,  Ave.  may 
easily  see  what  motive  induced  Boniface  to  transfer  thither  tliat  great 


186 

the  saints,  should  rescue  the  temple  from  the  contagion  of 
common  sewers  and  market-places.  The  veneration  for  a 
miraculous  image,  which  has  lately  crowded  the  Rotonda, 
has  not  bettered  the  condition  of  the  pavement :  nor  does  it 
help  the  general  effect  of  the  Intenrr  prospect  to  be  aware 
that  we  see  exactly  the  same  idolatry  which  was  practised  in 
the  same  spot  sixteen  centuries  ago.  A  philosopher  may 
smile,  but  a  less  indifferent  spectator  is  shocked  at  the  inex- 
plicable credulity  which  stares  in  the  steadfast  faces  of  a  hun- 
dred worshippers,  seated  on  chairs,  for  hours,  before  the 
image,  in  the  wish,  the  hope,  the  certainty,  of  some  indica- 
tion of  Omnipotence  from  the  dirty  cobweb  covered  block 
which  has  been  preferred  into  divinity. 

The  Pantheon  has  become  the  shrine  not  only  of  the  mar- 
tyred, but  of  the  illustrious  in  every  art  and  science  :  but  the 
busts  of  Raphael,  Hannibal  Caracci,  Pierin  del  Vaga,  Zuc- 
cari,  and  others,  to  which  age  has  lent  her  venerable  hue, 
are  ill  assorted  with  the  many  modern  cotemporary  heads  of  an- 
cient worthies  which  now  glare  in  all  the  niches  of  the  Ro- 
tonda. The  little  white  Hermaean  busts,  ranged  on  ledges, 
side  by  side,  give  to  this  temple  of  immortality  the  air  of  a 
sculptor's  study ;  and  there  is  something  embarrassing  in 
reading  so  many  names  under  almost  every  image :  that  of 
the  portrait,  of  Canova  the  dedicator,  and  of  the  artist.  A 
corner  awaits  Bodoni,  now  under  the  chisel  of  the  modern 
Cleomenes,  who  will  himself  complete  the  crowded  series. 
The  many  friends  of  the  most  amiable  man  in  existence,  and 
the  admiration  of  all  Europe,  would  long  defer  that  mournful 
recompense. 

The  inscription  on  the  Pantheon,  whose  simplicity,  if  not 
whose  date,  belongs  to  the  rise  of  the  monarchy, 

M.    AGRIPPA.    L.    r.    COS.    TERTIVM  .  FECIT.* 

multitude  of  martyrs  in  solemn  pomp."  Discorso.  p.  26.  The  Abate 
also  is  scandalized  with  Baronius  for  owning, "  in  dedicatione  templorum 
multa  fuisse  gentilibus  cum  pietatis  cultoribus  similia  ex  Suetonio  disces :" 
and  he  talks  of  the  "  lihricciuolo"  of  "  un  tal  Coniers  Middleton,'"  p.  SS. 
meaning  his  letter  from  Rome. 

*  The  other  inscription,  given,  as  has  been  remarked  in  note  to  Stanza 
Ixxx.  so  often  incorrectly,  is  thus  written  : 


187 

has  all  the  effect  produced  by  one  of  the  greatest  names,  and 
by  the  most  powerful  title,  of  the  ancient  world.  We  may, 
perhaps,  be  inclined  to  think  that  the  words  were  known  an- 
ciently not  to  have  been  cotemporary  with  the  original  build- 
ing :  for  Aulus  Gellius  mentions,  that  a  friend  of  his  at  Rome 
wrote  to  him,  asking  why  he  used  the  phrase  "  me  jam  ter- 
tium  scripsisse.^^  It  should  seem  that  the  question  would  not 
have  been  asked  if  the  inscription  had  any  authority,  or,  at 
least,  that  Gellius  would  have  cited  it  as  a  triumphant  quota- 
tion, to  show  that  the  Augustan  scholars  had  declared  in  favour 
of  the  adverb  of  Varro,*  although  Cicero  had  been  unwilling 
to  decide. 

Stanza  CXLVIII. 

7%ere  is  a  dungeon,  in  whose  dim  drear  light,  Sfc. 

Alluding  to  the  famous  story  of  the  Roman  daughter.  A 
Temple  of  Piety  was  built  in  the  Forum  Olitorium,  by 
Acihus  Glabrio  the  Duumvir,!  to  commemorate  the  victory 
of  his  father  over  Antiochus,  at  Thermopyle,  and  a  gold  sta- 
tue of  Glabrio  was  placed  in  this  temple.  Festus  mentions 
that  it  was  consecrated  on  a  spot  where  a  woman  once  lived 
who  had  nourished  her  father  in  prison  with  her  own  milk, 
and  was  thus  the  occasion  of  his  being  pardoned. |  Solinus 
has  much  the  same  account.  It  is  a  pity  that  so  fine  a  tale 
should  be  liable  to  such  contradictions.     The  father  in  Fes- 


"  Imp.  Caes.  L.  Septimius .  Severus  .  Pius .  Pertinax .  Arabicus  .  Adia- 
benicus.Parthicus.  Maximus  .  Pontif.  Max.  Trib.  Potest.  X.  Imp.  XI. 

Cos.  III.  P.  p.  Procos.  et Imp  Caes.  M.  Aurelius.  Antoninus  .  Pius . 

Felix  .  Aug.  Trib.  Potest-  V,  Cos.  Procos.  Pantheum  Vetustate  .  cor- 
ruptum  .  cum  .  omni .  cuitu  .  restituerunt." 

It  is  in  two  lines,  and  the  second  begins  with  Imp.  Cses.  M.  Aureliua. 

*  Noct.  attic,  conlment.  lib<  x.  cap.  i.  edit.  Aid-  p.  130. 
t  Liv.  Hist.  lib.  x. 

I  "  Pietati  aedem  ab  Acilio  consecratam  ajunt  eo  loco  quo  quaedam  mu- 
lier  habitaverit,  quae  patrem  suura  inclusum  carcere  mammis  suis  clam 
aluerit ;  ob  hoc  factum  impunitas  ei  concessa  sit."  Sex.  Pomp.  Fest.  de 
Verb.  sig.  lib.  xx.  ex  Bib.  Ant  August  p.  &98.  rol.  7-  edit-  Lucae.  1772. 

24 


188 

tus  is  a  mother  in  Pliny,*  and  the  plebeian  of  the  latter  is  a 
noble  matron  in  Valerius  Maximus.t  The  naturalist  lays  the 
scene  in  the  prisons  of  the  Decemvirs,  and  adds,  that  a  Tem- 
ple of  Piety  was  erected  on  the  site  of  these  prisons,  where 
tlie  Theatre  of  Marcellus  afterwards  stood.  The  other  wri- 
ter (Valerius),  makes  no  mention  of  the  temple.  It  seeiiB 
clear,  however,  that  Festus  and  Pliny  allude  to  the  same 
story,  and  that  the  change  of  sex  was,  perhaps,  occasioned 
by  some  confusion  of  the  father  of  Glabrio  with  the  mother 
of  the  pious  matron.]: 

The  antiquaries  have  chosen  to  point  out  the  scene  of  this 
adventure  at  the  church  of  "  St.  Nipholas  in  carcere,^^  which 
should  therefore  stand  on  the  site  of  the  Decemviral  prisons 
and  the  Temple  of  Piety.  But  here  a  great  difficulty  pre- 
sents itself.  For  if  the  Theatre  of  Marcellus  had  displaced 
both  the  prisons  and  the  temple,  which  the  words  of  Pliny 
would  lead  us  to  suppose,  it  seems  useless  to  look  for  either 
one  or  the  other  at  this  day.  But  at  this  church  there  are 
evident  remains,  not  of  one  only,  but  of  two,  and  perhaps 
three  temples,  whose  columns  are  incrusted  in  the  lateral 
walls  on  each  side.  The  antiquaries  have  assigned  these 
triple  vestiges  to  the  Temple  of  Piety,  built  by  Glabrio,  to 
the  Temple  of  Piety  raised  to  the  Roman  matron,  and  to  a 
Temple  of  Juno  Matuta.  This  is  sufficiently  bold,  when,  if 
we  follow  Piiny,  the  first  did  not  exist  in  his  time,  when,  ac- 
cording to  Festus,  there  were  not  two,  but  only  one  temple, 


*  "  Humilis  in  plebe  et  ideo  ignobiKs  puerpera,  supplicii  causa  carcere 
indusa  matre,  cam  impetrasset  adituoi  a  janitore  semper  excussa,  ne  quid 
inferret  cibi,  tleprehensa  est  uberibus  suis  alens  earn.  Quo  miraculo  salus 
matris  donata  filiae  pietati  est ;  ambaeque  perpetuis  alimentis ;  et  locus 
ille  eidem  consecratus  est  dese  C  Quinctio.  M.  Attilio  Coss.  templo  pieta- 
tis  extructo  in  illius  carceris  sede,  ubi  nunc  Marcelli  theatrum  est."  Hist. 
Nat.  lib.  vii.  cap.  36. 

t  "  Sanguinis  ingenui  mulierem  praetor  apud  tribunal  suum  capitali  cri- 
mine  damnatam,  triumviro  in  carcere  necandam  tradidit,''  &.c.  Valer. 
Max.  lib.  V.  cap.  iv.  note  7. 

X  Or  perhaps  with  the  other  Grecian  story  told  by  Valerius  Maximaa, 
(ibid.  No.  1.  Externa)  of  Perus  and  Cimon,  of  nhich  there  was  a  fine 
picture. 


189 

and  when  Juno  Matuta  is  only  known  to  have  stood  some- 
where in  the  Forum  Ohtoriuni.* 

The  name  of  the  church  is  S.  Nicholas,  "  in  careers  Tul- 
liano.^^  But  the  Tullian  prisons  could  never  have  been  here 
nor  any  where,  except  on  the  Clivus  Capitolinus  hanging  over 
the  Forum,  and  it  has  been  proved  that  the  last  epithet  which 
deceived  the  Cardinal  Baronius,t  and  occasioned  one  of  the 
famous  Roman  controversies,  is  a  fanciful  addition  of  latter 
times.  Notwithstanding  the  assertion  of  PHny,  a  prison  that 
went  by  the  name  of  the  Dectmviral  existed  near  the  Thea- 
tre of  Marcellus  in  the  days  of  the  regionaries,  and  a  Tem- 
ple of  Piety  is  recorded  by  Rufus,  in  the  Forum  Oiitorium ; 
but  as  the  temple  is  not  mentioned  by  Victor,|  and  as  the 
other  writer  puts  it  even  in  a  different  region  from  the  prison, 
it  seems  stretching  their  authority  to  conclude  S.  Nicholas  in 
tarctrt  to  be  the  site  both  of  the  one  and  the  other,  as  well 
as  of  a  second  Temple  of  Piety,  which  never  appears  to 
have  had  any  distinct  existence.  The  name  of  the  church  is 
a  very  admissible  evidence  for  the  contiguity  at  least  of  the 
prison  ;  and  as  the  columns  cannot  have  belonged  to  that 
structure,  they  may  be  assigned  to  any  of  the  temples  or  ba- 
silicas noted  as  being  in  ihat  quarter.  Lucius  Faunu3§  says 
there  were  in  his  time  some  vestiges  of  the  prison  ;  but  the 
hole  to  which  strangers  are  conducted  by  torchlight  at  the 
base  of  the  columns  can  hardly  have  any  reference  to  the  an- 
cient dungeon.  11 

Aringhi  has  given  the  most  striking  example  of  the  perver- 
sion of  antiquaries,  when  he  supposes  that  some  lines  of  Ju- 

*  "  Forum  Oiitorium,  Columna  Lactaria,  ^des  Pietatis,  iEdes  Ma- 
tutae."  Sext.  Rufi.  de  regionib.  Urb.  "Regio  circus  Maximus."  Ap. 
Graev.  torn.  iii.  p.  98. 

t  In  notis  ad  Martyrol.  a.  d.  xiv-  Martii.  Apolog.  contra  Hugonium,  de 
stationibus  urbis  Romse.  Nardini,  lib.  v.  cap.  xii.  gives  a  long  account  of 
the  controversy. 

I  Victor,  "  Career.  C.  or  CL.  X.  Viromm."  Regio  IX.  Circus  Flami- 
nlus,  ib.  p.  106.  Rufus  says,  "Career  C.  Virorura."  Regio  Circus  Fla- 
minius,  ibid.  p.  97.     The  C  should  be  CL.X- 

^  De  Antiq.  Urb.  Rom.  lib.  iii.  cap.  v.  ap.  Sallengre,  torn.  1.  p.  217. 

II  Nardini,  lib.  vi.  cap.  11  takes  no  notice  of  the  columns,  but  believes  in 
the  site  of  the  prison  and  the  story  of  Festus. 


190 

venal's  third  satire*  were  intended  to  extol  the  size  and  mag- 
nificence of  the  single  prison  which  could  contain  all  the 
criminals  of  early  Rome  ;  as  if  the  satirist  had  meant  to  praise 
the  architectural  grandeur,  not  the  virtue,  of  the  primitive 
ages.t 

Our  own  times  have  furnished  us  with  a  new  piety,  which 
the  French  audience  of  Mr.  Bruce  thought  to  be  a  phrase 
happily  invented  by  our  gallant  countryman.  The  coura- 
geous attachment  of  wives  to  their  husbands  under  calamity, 
superior  to  what  is  found  in  any  other  relation  of  life,  has 
been  acknowledged  in  all  periods,  from  the  Augustan  proscrip- 
tionj  to  the  plague  at  Florence  :§  and  the  conjugal  pieAy  of 
Madame  Lavalette||  is  distinguished  from  many  similar  ex- 
ploits, merely  because  it  was  seconded  so  nobly,  and  occurred 
in  an  age  capable  of  appreciating  such  heroic  devotion. 

Stanza  CLII. 

Turn  to  the  Mole  tvhich  Hadrian  rear''d  on  high, 
Imperial  mimic  of  old  EgypVs  piles, 
Colossal  copyist  of  deformity. 

This  imitation  of  Egyptian  deformity  must  not  be  supposed 
to  apply  to  the  mausoleum  of  Hadrian,  but  to  the  monstrous 
divinities,  and  the  fabrics  of  the  Tiburtine  villa.  The  Mole 
was  constructed,  it  is  thought,  on  the  plan,  nearly,  of  the 
Mausoleum  of  Augustus  or  of  Cecilia  Metella. 

We  must  recur  to  Mr.  Gibbon  to  notice  two  or  three  mis- 
takes which  he  has  made  in  his  mention  of  this  monument. 


*  "  felicia  dicas 
Saecula,  quae  quondam  sub  regibus  atqiietribunis 
Viderunt  uno  coDtf-ntam  carcere  Romam." 
f  Roma  subterranea,  lib.  ii.  cap.  i.  torn.  i.  p.  200. 

f  "  Id  tamen  notandura  est,  fuisso  in  prosciiptos  uxorum  fidem  sum- 
mam,  libertorum  medium,  servorum  aliquam,  filiorum,  nullam."  C.  Veil. 
Pateic.  Hist.  lib.  ii  cap.  Ixvii. 

5^  Boccacio,  in  the  introduction  to  the  Decameron,  puts  the  abandon- 
ment of  husbands  by  their  wives  as  the  last  horror  of  the  plague. 

II  By  some  accident  the  phrase  is  omitted  in  the  printed  speech;  or, 
perhaps,  the  invention  belonged  to  the  reporters. 


191 

The  first  occurs  in  his  account  of  the  defence  of  Rome  by 
Beiisarius,  where  he  says  that  the  sepulchre  of  Hadrian  was 
then  converted,  "  for  the  tirst  time,  to  the  uses  of  a  citadel."* 
This  does  not  seem  probable ;  for  the  account  given  of  it  by 
Procopius  tells  us  that  it  had  become  a  sort  of  toroer,  and  had, 
by  additional  works,  been  anciently^  joined  to  the  walls  of 
Rome.  DonatusJ  and  Nardini§  believe  it  to  have  been  fortified 
by  Honorius  at  the* first  approach  of  the  Goths,  when  he  is 
recorded  as  having  repaired  the  walls. 

It  preserved  until  the  tenth  century  the  name  of  the  Prison, 
or  House  of  Theodoric,(|  by  which  appellation  it  is  designated 
once  or  twice,  so  late  as  the  fifteenth  century  ;**  and  this  cir- 
cumstance makes  it  appear  that  the  Gothic  monarch  had  made 
it  capable  of  defence  previously  to  the  siege  of  the  city  by 
Vestiges. 

The  second  error  occurs  in  a  note  in  the  same  place  of  the 
history,  in  which  the  breadth  of  the  sides  of  the  ancient  square 
base  is  mistaken  for  the  height  above  the  walls. tt 

Another  inadvertency  is  to  be  found  in  that  passage  in  which 
the  historian  tells  us,  that  if  the  people  "  could  have  rorcsted 
from  the  Popes  the  castle  of  St.  Angela,  they  had  resolved,  by  a 
public  decree,  to  have  annihilated  that  monument. "JJ  But 
the  partisans  of  Urban  Vi.,  in  the  year  1 378,  which  is  the  pe- 
riod alluded  to,  did  take  the  Mole,  which  was  surrendered  to 
them  after  a  year's  siege,  by  a  Frenchman  who  commanded  for 
the  Genevese  anti-pope,  Clement ;  and  it  was  on  that  occasion 
that  they  stript  oif  the  marbles   and  destroyed  the  square 

•  Decline  and  Fall,  kc.  cap.  xli.  torn.  vii.  oct.  p.  230. 

t  IlaXato)  av^pwrtotare  his  words.     TotBixutv.  jy  a.  p.  199. 

X  Lib.  iv.  cap.  vii. 

^  Lib.  i.  cap.  x. 

II  "  Quod  donium  Theodorici  dicunt."  Bertlioldus,  ap-  Baron.  Ann. 
Ecclesias.  torn.  vi.  p.  552.  ad  an.  1084. 

**  It  had  then  begun  to  be  called  Rocca,  or  Castello  di  Crescentio,  but 
the  names  were  promiscuously  used  to  the  XV th  century.  Dissertazione 
sulle  Rovine,  Sec  p.  386. 

tt  "  The  height  above  the  walls,  (J;^*  Sov  fj  %i^ov  /3oX»;r,"  says  Mr.  Gibbon, 
Ibid,  note  83.  The  words  of  Procopius  are  tvpoj  (liv  a%c86v  to  h  x/^or 
po^tjn'  ixaatri  exovaa'   ftXtv^dt,  ■tt  aurov  tiaaa^ii  ito'iv  laai,  dWi/)J>.atj,.      Ibid. 

tt  Cap.  Ixxi.  torn.  xii.  p.  418. 


192 

base,  and  would,  conformably  to  their  decree,  have  torn  down 
the  round  tower  itself,  but  were  unable  from  the  compact 
solidity  of  the  fabric. 

The  authority  of  Poggio  alone,  whom  Mr.  Gibbon  cites  and 
misinterprets,  is  decisive.*  "  The  other  [sepulchre],"  says 
the  Florentine,  "which  they  commonly  call  the  castle  of 
"  Saint  Angelo,  the  violence  of  the  Romans,  hath,  in  a  great 
"  measure,  although  the  title  of  it  is  still  extant  over  the  door, 
*'  defaced  :  and,  indeed,  they  would  have  entirely  destroyed 
"  it,  if,  after  having  taken  away  many  of  the  great  stones,  thej 
"  had  been  able  to  pull  to  pieces  the  remainder  of  the  Mole." 
The  resistance  of  the  naked  tower,  when  actually  exposed  to 
the  triumphant  rage  of  a  whole  people,  must  augment  our 
respect  for  this  indissoluble  structure. 

The  elforts  of  the  Romans  are  still  visible  in  the  jutting 
blocks  which  mark  where  the  corresponding  portion  of  the 
basement  has  been  torn  away.  The  damage  must  have  been 
very  great,  and  have  totally  changed  the  appearance  of  the 
monument.  In  fact  a  cotempoi-ary  writer,!  one  of  Dante's 
commentators,  talks  of  the  "  sumptuous  work"  being  de- 
stroyed  and  laid  prostrate, ;  and  another  writer  of  the  same 

*  "  Alterum  quod  castrum  sancti  Anpjeli  vuljio  dicunt,  magna  ex  parte 
Romanorum  injuria,  licet  adhuc  titulus  supra  portum  oxtet  integer,  distur- 
faavit  ;  quod  certe  funditus  evevtissont,  (id  enim  pulilice  decreverant)  si 
eorum  manibus  pervia,  absumtis  grandibus  saxis  relinqua  moles  extitis- 
set."     De  Fortun.  Varict.  Urb  Romap  Sallengre,  torn.  i.  p.  507. 

f  "  Sed  proh  dolor !  istud  sumptuosumopus,  destructum  etprostratum 
est,  de  anno  praesenti,  1389,  per  populum  Romanum,  quia  fuerat  aliquan- 
do  detentum  per  fautores  Roberti  Cardinalis  gebennensis"  Benvenuto 
de'  Rambaldi  da  Imola.  Comment  in  Dant.  cant  xviii-  ver-  28.  torn.  i. 
p.  1070.  Oper  Dant. 

Tiraboschi  (Storia,  lac.  torn.  v.  partii.  lib.  iii.  num.  xi.  p.  463.)  has  cor- 
rected this  date  to  1379,  making,  at  the  same  time,  the  following  shame- 
ful mistake  :  "  Perciocche  parlando  del  Campidoglio  dice,"  (ib.  p.  1070.) 
"  sed  proh  dolor  istud  sumptuosum,"  fcc.  which  shows  that  he  never 
could  have  read  the  commentary  itself,  which  says  nothing  about  the 
Capitol,  and  where  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo  is  specified  in  the  words  im- 
mediately preceding  the  above  quotation.  "  Ideo  denominatum  est  ab 
isto  cventu  Castrum  Sancti  Angeli,  sed  proh  dolor,  fcc.  The  necessity 
of  consulting  originals  is  no  where  so  obvious  as  in  turning  over  the  great 
Italian  works  of  reference. 


1 


193 

times,*  records  that  the  Romans  did  so  handle  it,  and  £0  dis- 
mantle it,  that  from  that  time  the  goats  came  to  pasture 
about  it. 

The  usual  uncertainty  obscures  tlie  original  form  of  this 
structure.  The  Augustan  historians  have  left  us  only  two 
short  notices,  by  which  we  know  that  the  Tomb  of  Hadrian 
was  at  the  foot  of  the  bridge  built  by  that  Emperor.  The 
restored  figure  given  in  the  Itineraries,  the  triple  range  of 
columns,  the  sculptured  marbles,  the  gilded  peacocks,  the 
brazen  bull,  and  the  Belvedere  pine,  date  no  farther  back 
than  the  description  of  Pietro  Manlio,  who  wrote  about  the 
year  1160,  and  who  did  not  tell  what  he  saw  himself,  but 
quoted  a  homily  of  Saint  Leo.t  Manlio  himself  saw  it  as  a 
fortress,  with  a  church,  perhaps,  on  the  top,  as  described  by 
Luitprand,  a  little  before  the  time  of  Otho  III. J  Yet  the 
description  of  Manlio  was  followed  by  the  anonymous  pil- 
grim of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  also  by  the  sculptor  of 
the  bronze  doors  of  St.  Peter's  in  1435,  which  furnish  the 

*  "  E  si  lo  ebbero  e  tanto  lo  disfecero  che  a  tempo  dappoi  ci  givano  le 
eapre  a  pascare."  Steph.  Infess-  Diaiio.  ap.  Script.  Rerum  Italic,  torn, 
iii.  parts,  p.  1115. 

f  "  Est  et  Castellum,  quod  fuit  memoria  AdrJani  imperatoris  slcut  legi- 
tur  in  sermone  S.  Leonis  Papse  de  festivitate  S-  Petri  ubi  dicit  Adriani  Im- 
peratoris mirae  magnitudinis  templum  constructum  quod  totum  lapidibus 
coopertum  et  diversis  historiis  est  perornatum :  in  circuito  vero  cancellis 
aeneis  circumseptum,  cum  pavonibus  aureis  et  tauro  seneo  ;  ex  qiiibus 
(pavonibus)  duo  fuerunt  de  illis  qui  sunt  in  cantharo  Paradisi.  In  quatuor 
partes  templi  fuerunt  quatuorcahalli  jenei  deaurati,  in  unaquaque  front© 
portse  aeneae  :  in  medio  giro  fuit  sepulchrum  porphyreticum  quod  nunc  est 
Latferanis  in  quo  sepultus  est  Innocentius  Papa  IL  cujus  coopertorium  est 
in  Paradiso  B.  Petri  super  sepulchrum  Praefecti"  See — Historia  Basilicse 
Antiquse  S.  Petri  Apost.  in  Vatic,  cap.  vii.  p  50.  ad  beatiss.  pat.  Alexand. 
III.  Pont.  Max.  apud  Acta  Sanctorum,  torn,  vii  partii-  p.  37.  edit  1717. 
Ant.  Alexander  was  elected  in  1159:  there  are  interpolations  in  this 
history  from  the  pen  of  a  Roman  canon  of  the  Vatican,  Paul,  de  Ange- 
lis.     See — Prefat-  p.  36. 

}  "  In  ingressu  Romanae  urbis  quaedam  est  miri  operis  miraeque  fortitu- 

dinis  constituta  munitio munitio  autem  ipsa,  ut  cetera  desinam, 

tantae  altitudinis  est,  ut  Ecclesia  quae  in  ejus  vertice  vjdetur  in  honore 
summi  et  caelestis  militiae  principis  Archangeli  Michaelis  fobricata  dicatur 
Ecclesia  sancti  Angeli  usque  ad  ccslits."  De  rebus  per  Europam  gestii, 
Yib.  iii.  cap.  xii,  fo.  51.  edit.  1514. 


194 

original  of  the  pictures  seen  in  all  the  guide  books.  The 
oldest  description  to  be  relied  upon,  that  of  Procopius,  is 
much  more  simple.  "  Without  the  Aurelian  gate,"  says  he, 
"  a  stone's  throw  from  the  walls,  is  the  tomb  of  the  Emperor 
Hadrian,  a  striking  and  memorable  work.  For  it  is  composed 
of  Parian  marble,  and  the  stones  adhere  compactly  together, 
although  without  cement.  Each  of  the  sides  is  in  breadth 
a  stone's  throw,  and  the  four  sides  are  equal  one  to  another : 
the  height  exceeds  that  of  the  walls.  On  the  top  are  seen 
many  admirable  statues  of  men  and  horses  of  the  same  mar- 
ble ;  and  because  this  tomb  seemed,  as  it  were,  a  strong-hold 
over  against  the  city,  the  ancients  joined  it  to  the  walls  by 
two  branches,  which  connected  it  with  the  town  wall :  it 
looks,  therefore,  like  a  high  tower  protecting  the  neighbour- 
ing gateway."* 

If  then  there  was  any  colonnade  similar  to  that  of  the  plans, 
it  must  have  disappeared  before  the  time  of  Procopius :  and 
the  editor  of  Winkelmann,  who  avers  that  there  are  still 
evident  traces  of  the  adjustment  of  a  vault,  which  sprang 
from  the  tower  and  terminated  on  the  circular  portico,  asks 
whether  it  is  probable,  that  the  pillars  of  the  lower  range 
may  have  been  employed  in  forming  the  great  portico  which 
led  to  the  Vatican,  or  in  building  the  Vatican  Basilica  itself.t 
By  this  query,  it  is  presumed,  he  thinks  such  a  conjecture  is 
probable,  notwithstanding  the  columnar  ornaments  of  the 
sepulchre  are  merely  traditional,  and  are  falsely  supposed 
to  have  enriched  St.  Paul's,  without  the  walls,  with  her 
paonazzetto  pillars,  and  the  Lateran  with  those  of  verd- 
antique. 

A  more  correct  judgment  could  have  been  formed  before 
the  destruction  in  1379,  than  can  be  deduced  from  the 
present  naked  skeleton  of  peperine,  surrounded  as  it  is  by  the 

*  Procop.  in  loc.  sup.  cit. 

f  "  Sarebbe  mai  probabile  il  dire,  che  le  colonne  piu  grandi  abbiano 
servitoal  mentovato  gran  portico,  che  dalla  mole  giugneva  fine  alia  basi- 
lica Vaticana,  restaurato,  e  ampliato  di  molto  dal  Pontefice  S.  Adriano* 
O  che  siano  state  impiegate  nella  stessa  Basilica  Vaticana  ?"  Dissertazione 
sulle  rovine,  k,c.  p.  S88,  If  so,  the  church  has  another  plunder  to  be 
noted  of  the  monuments  of  Rome. 


I 


195 

repairs  and  outworks  of  successive  pontiffs :  for  it  should  be 
borne  in  mind  by  the  spectator,  that,  excepting  the  circular 
mass,  he  sees  nothing  which  dates  earlier  than  the  beginning 
of  the  fifteenth  century  :  and  that  even  the  round  tower  itself 
has  been  much  changed  by  the  explosion  of  the  powder  maga- 
zine in  1497,  the  final  reparation  of  which  reduced  the  for- 
tress to  its  present  form.  The  fate  of  the  modern  city,  and 
even  of  the  papal  power,  has  in  some  measure  depended  upon 
the  castle  of  Saint  Angelo  ;  and  by  a  lamentable  coincidence, 
the  tomb  of  one  of  their  despots  has  helped  to  perpetuate  the 
subjection  of  the  Roman  people.  Of  such  importance  was 
this  fort  to  the  pontiffs,  that  the  taking  of  it  is,  by  an  ecclesi- 
astical writer,  ranked  with  a  famine,  an  eclipse,  and  an  earth- 
quake.* 

At  one  time  it  commanded  the  only  entrance  into  Rome  on 
the  Tuscan  sidc.t  The  seizure  of  it  by  the  Patrician  Theo- 
dora, in  the  beginning  of  the  tenth  century,  was  one  of  the 
first  steps  towards  the  establishment  of  the  power  of  herself 
and  the  more  famous  Marozia,  her  daughter:  and  the  pos- 
session of  it  enabled  her  lover.  Pope  John  X.,  after  her  death 
probably,  to  expel  from  Rome  Alberic,  Marquis  of  Camerino, 
the  husband  of  the  same  Marozia.J     The  daughter,  how- 

*  "  Eodeni  anno  per  totum  orbera  magna  fames  fuit,  ita  quod  exinde 
multi  homines  mortui  sunt :  et  sol  eclypsini  passus  est,  castnim  S.  Aii' 
geli  captumest,  terra  motaest."  Vit.  Pontif.  Card,  de  Aragon.  et  aljor, 
ap.  Script.  Rer.  Italic,  torn.  iii.  p.  313.  speaking  of  the  year  1084. 

t  Luitprand,  in  loc.  sup.  cit. 

I  There  are  some  doubts  and  difficulties  respecting  these  two  persons 
whom  Mr.  Gibbon  calls  sisters  (cap.  xlix,  vol.  iv.  oct.  p.  197.)  Marozia 
had  a  sister,  Theodora,  whom  Baronius,  by  a  great  mistake,  calls  the  wife 
of  Adalbert  II.,  Duke  or  Marquis  of  Tuscany  (Annali  d'ltalia,  ad  an.  917. 
tom.  V.  p.  282.):  but  the  lady  to  whom  the  exploits  of  a  Theodora  seem 
to  belong,  was  the  mother  of  Marozia,  and  she  who  placed  her  lover,  the 
Bishop  of  Ravenna,  on  the  papal  throne,  under  the  name  of  John  X.  in 
the  year  914.  This  is  the  scortum  impudens  of  Luitprand,  who  says  of 
her, "  Romanse  civitatis non  inviriliter  monarchiam  obtinebat."  (Annali 
ad  an.  914.  ib.  p.  273.)  Mr.  Gibbon  tells  us,  that  "the  bastard  son,  the 
grandson,  and  the  great  grandson  of  Marozia,  a  rare  genealogy,  were 
seated  in  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,"  (ibid.  p.  198 ;)  but  John  XI.  was  the  son 
of  her  husband,  Alberic,  not  of  her  lover,  Pope  Sergius  III,  as  Muratori 
has  distinctly  proved  (Annali  ad  an-  911.  torn.  t.  p.  2^8)    Her  grandson 

25 


196 

ever,  was  mistress  of  the  castle  in  925,  and  handed  it  ovcfA 
with  the  sovereignty  of  Rome,  to  her  second  and  third  hus- 
liands,  Guide  and  Hugo.  Her  son  Alberic  drove  away  the 
latter,  who  was  obliged  to  drop  down  from  the  battlements 
npon  the  town  wall.  The  castle  stood  two  sieges  against 
Hugo,  and  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Patrician,  Pope  John 
XII.  That  pontitr  and  Adalbert,  son  of  King  Berenger,  en- 
deavoured to  hold  it  against  Otho  the  Great  (A.  D.  963,)  but 
were  compelled  to  retire.*  The  Saxon  emperor  came  to 
Rome  and  deposed  John  for  "  hunting  and  calling  on  Jove 
and  Venus,  and  other  demons,  to  help  him  when  he  played 
at  dice,  besides  other  irregularities."!  Otho  addressed  him- 
self to  the  assembly  in  Saxon,  not  being  able  to  speak  Latin. 
Benedict  VI.  was  murdered  in  the  castle  by  Cardinal  Boni- 
face Francone  (in  973)  who  was  driven  from  Rome  by.  Be- 
nedict VII.,  but  kept  the  Mole  by  means  of  a  band  of  ruf- 
fians, and  thus  enabled  himself  to  return  from  Constantinople, 
when  he  put  to  death  another  pope,  John  XIV.  This  was  in 
984  or  985. 1 

It  was  in  the  succeeding  pontificate  of  John  XV.  that 
the  Caesar  Crescentius  seized  and  re-fortified  the  castle  so 
strongly,  that  it  was  called  afterwards  his  rock  or  tower,  and 
all  the  etforts  of  an  imperial  army,  commanded  by  Otho  III. 
in  person,  were  insufficient  to  dislodge  him.  His  surrender 
was,  we  have  seen,§  the  effect  of  treachery,  not  of  force. 

The  next  memorable  notice  of  the  castle  is  the  two  years 
blockade  of  the  anti-pope  Cadaloo,  in  the  time  of  Alexander 

Octavian,  otherwise  called  John  XII.,  Avas  pope ;  but  a  great  grandson 
cannot  be  discovered  in  any  of  the  succeedinj^  popes,  nor  does  our  his- 
torian himself,  in  his  subsetjuent  narration,  (pag.  20:2.)  seem  to  know  of 
one. 

*  The  dates  of  some  of  these  events  will  have  been  seen  in  note  to 
•Stanza  LXXX.  Luitprand  is  the  authority  for  Hugo  King  of  Burgundy's 
method  of  escape. 

f  "  In  ludo  aleae  Jovis  Veneris  cjeterorumque  daemonum  auxiliuna 
poposcisse  dixerunt."  Luitprand,  lib,  vi.  cap.  vii.  fol.  xc.  He  was  ac- 
cused also  of  turning  the  Lateran  into  a  brothel;  in  short,  of  every  t'hinj: 
but  the  real  offence,  his  opposition  to  Otho. 

t  Muratori  has  the  first,  Baronius  tlie  second  date 

^  See  note  to  Stanza  CXIV. 


197 

n.j  in  the  years  1063  and  1064.*  Gregory  VII.  defended 
himself  in  the  fortress  against  the  Roman  partisans  of  Henry 
IV.,  and  in  this  transaction  also  the  Mole  appears  to  have 
been  impregnable.  The  people  and  the  Germans  could  not 
force  their  way  into  it,  and  the  only  effort  made  wa?  to  pre- 
vent Gregory  from  getting  out.  He  was  liberated  by  the 
army  of  Guiscard  •,  but  the  castle  fell  into  the  hands  of  his 
enemies.  The  troops  of  the  countess  M.itilda  put  it  in  pos- 
session of  Victor  III.,  whose  garrison  held  it  against  the  par- 
tisans of  the  anti-pope  Guibert,  in  1087.  It  was  attacked  by 
the  people,  and  yielded  by  Urban  II.,  not,  however,  in  con- 
sequence of  a  violent  assanltt  (A.  D.  1091).  It  was  then 
resolved  to  level  this  "  lasting  shame"  with  the  ground  ;  but 
the  anti-pope,  Guibert,  Clement  III.,  retained  it  for  his  own 
service,  and  defended  it  for  seven  years  against  his  oppo- 
nents. 

The  army  of  the  crusaders,  in  1096,  assaulted  it  in  vain. 
Urban  recovered  it  by  composition  in  1098.  Another  anti- 
pope  Anaclcte  II.  wrested  it  from  the  hands  of  Innocent  II., 
who  returning  with  the  Emperor  Lothaire  III.,  tried,  with- 
out success,  to  recover  it.  This  occurred  in  1137,  and  in 
the  following  year,  after  the  death  of  Anacletc,  and  the  de- 
position of  Victor  IV.,  Innocent  was  again  master  of  the 
Mole.f  The  Peter  Leone  family  guarded  it  for  the  succes- 
sive pontiffs,  Celestine  II.,  Lucius  If.,  and  Eugcnius  III.,  up 
to  the  year  1 153,§  when  the  new  senate  occupied  this  and  the 
other  fortresses.  It  stood  a  siege  for  Alexander  III.  against 
Frederick  Barbarossa,  in  1 167  ;  but  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
senate  after  the  retreat  of  that  pontiff. 

The  subsequent  popes,  however,  seem  to  have  been  the 
nominal  masters  of  it,  even  when  they  had  lost  nearly  the 

*  Annali  d'ltalia,  ad  an.  cit.  There  is  a  short  histoiy  of  the  castle  of 
St  Angelo  in  Donatus,  lib.  iv.  cap.  vii.  which  being  founded  chiefly  on 
Baronius,  seems  very  incorrect,  especially  as  to  dates. 

Baronius  would  make  it  appear  so.    See — Annali  ad  an.  1091,  tonr. 
vi.  p  SOS 

X  Annali,  torn.  vi.  p.  461- 

)^  Ibid,  ad  an.  cit- 


198 

whole  of  the  temporal  power  at  Rome,*  and  after  the  re- 
treat to  Avignon.  A  legate  was  governor  at  the  elevation  of 
Rienzi,  and  after  his  fall  the  Tribune  remained  for  a  month 
securely  posted  in  the  citadel.  Innocent  VI.,  hearing  of  the 
death  of  his  Tribune-senator  Rienzi,  was  alarmed  lest  the 
barons  should  seize  the  Mole,  and  accordingly  delivered  it 
into  the  keeping  of  Hugo  Lusignan,  king  of  Cyprus,  then 
appointed  Senator.  On  the  return  from  Avignon  it  received 
Gregory  XI.  (1376)  ;  but  his  successor.  Urban  VI.,  lost  it  in 
the  hurry  of  the  election.  The  opposing  cardinals  would  not 
deliver  it  into  his  hands,  and  the  captain  of  their  anti-pope, 
Clement  VII.,  defended  it,  as  already  described,  until  1378, 
the  date  of  its  destruction. 

It  remained  dismantled  until  1 382,  when  two  Romans  said 
to  Boniface  IX.  "  If  you  wish  to  maintain  the  dominion  of 
Rome,  fortify  Castle  Saint  Angelo.t  He  followed  their  ad- 
vice, and  a  great  antiquary  records  the  consequence.  "  Bo- 
niface IX.,  the  pontiff,  first  fortified  the  Mole  of  Hadrian, 
and  established  the  pupal pov)er.''''\  The  people  petitioned  In- 
nocent VII.  to  restore  to  them  their  liberty,  the  Capitol,  the 
Milvian  Bridge,  and  the  Mole,  and  seized,  for  a  moment,  all 
but  the  latter,  which  they  assaulted,  but  were  repulsed  by  the 
pontifical  troops,  and  totally  routed  in  the  gardens  of  Nero, 
in  the  Vatican. 

Ladislaus,  of  Naples,  expelled  Pope  John  XXIIL,  and 
left  the  castle  in  the  possession  of  his  daughter,  Johanna  II. 
It  now  stood  another  siege  from  Braccio  Montoni§,  and  was 
soon  afterwards  delivered  to  Pope  Martin  V. 

During  the  reign  of  Eugenius  IV.  a  plan  was  laid  for  mur- 
dering the  governor,  and  when  that  pope  was  driven  from  the 
city,  the  people  attacked  it  furiously,  but  were  unable  to  pre- 
vail.    Sixtus  IV.  renewed  the  practice  of  naming  cardinals 

*  Donatus,  lib.  iv.  cap.  vii.  p.  890.     Script.  Rer.  Ital.  torn.  iii. 

t  "  Se  tu  vuoi  raiinteucro  lo  state  di  Roma  acconcia  castel  Sant'  An- 
gelo."     Steph.  Infess.  diario.  ibid.  p.  1115.  loc.  cit. 

t  "Bonlfacius  IX.  Pontif.  max.  primus,  mole  Hadriani  munita  Roma- 
norum  Pontificum  ditionem  stabilivit."  Onuf-  Panvinii  Descrip.  Urb. 
Romse.  ap.  Gr;€v.  torn,  iii  p.  2!)9. 

?^  The  dates  will  have  been  seen  in  n»te  to  Stan2ia  LXXX. 


199 

to  the  praefecture  of  the  castle.  Nicholas  V.  added  some- 
thing to  the  fortifications  ;  but  Alexander  VI.  constructed  the 
brickworks  on  the  summit,  and  also  the  bastions  in  front  of 
the  Tiber.  These  additions  enabled  it  to  withstand  the  Im- 
perialists of  Charles  V.  for  seven  months  :  and  it  was  not 
finally  taken  by  assault,  but  surrendered,  by  Clement  VII. 
and  his  thirteen  cardinals,  upon  terms.  Paul  III.  and  Pius 
IV.  adorned  and  strengthened  it ;  but  the  great  engineer  was 
Urban  VIII. ;  he  added  a  mound,  a  ditch,  a  bastion,  and  a 
hundred  pieces  of  cannon  of  different  calibre,  thereby  mak- 
ing it  evident,  as  Donatus  quaintly  observes,  that  "  his  bees 
(the  Barberini  arms)  not  only  gave  honey,  but  had  stings  for 
the  fight."* 

Since  the  modern  improvements  in  artillery,  it  is  clear  that 
the  castle,  commanded,  as  it  is,  by  all  the  neighbouring  hills, 
could  never  resist  a  cannonade.  It  was  surrendered  during 
the  late  war  of  1814,  after  an  idle  menace  from  the  French 
captain,  that  the  angel  on  the  top  should  sheath  his  sword  be- 
fore the  garrison  would  capitulate. 

Yet  it  has  completely  answered  the  intention  of  Boniface, 
and  tlie  Tomb  of  Hadrian  has  served  for  the  basis  of  a  modern 
throne.  This  must  magnify  our  conceptions  of  the  massive 
fabrics  of  ancient  Rome  :  but  the  destruction  of  the  memorial 
would  have  been  preferable  to  the  establishment  of  the  mo- 
narchy. 

The  interior  of  the  castle  is  scarcely  worth  a  visit,  except 
it  be  for  the  sake  of  mounting  to  the  summit,  and  enjoying  the 
prospect  of  the  windings  of  the  Tiber.  The  memorials  of 
Hadrian  are  reduced  to  a  bust,  and  a  copy  of  it  shown  in  the 
principal  saloon,  whose  frescoes  are  very  little  attractive,  af- 
ter the  sight  of  the  masterpieces  in  that  art.  The  size,  how- 
ever, of  the  room,  is  so  considerable,  that  a  tragedy  was  re- 
presented there  under  the  direction  of  Cardinal  Riario  in  pre- 


*  "  Nimirum  apes  non  solum  inel  conficiunt  sed  etiam  aculeatse  arman- 
tur  ad  pu^nam."  Lib.  iv.  cap.  vli.  ibid.  Books  were  written  to  sliow 
how  it  stiould  be  fortified  ;  so  the  writer  found  somewhere  :  he  believes  ia 
Guicciardini. 


200 

sence  of  the  whole  papal  court.*  The  living  still  continue  td 
be  entombed  in  the  repository  of  the  dead,  and  the  exploit  of 
Cellini,  which  a  view  of  the  fort  makes  less  surprising,  has 
been  repeated  by  a  late  prisoner. 

Stanza  CLIV. 

Majesty, 
Power,  Glory,  Siren^th,  and  Beauty,  are  cdl  aisled 
In  this  eternal  ark  of  worship  undefded. 

The  ceremonies  of  a  religion  must,  except  where  they  are 
aanguinarj^,  be  considered  the  most  harmless  part  of  it :  if, 
however,  our  notions  of  primitive  Christianity  be  at  all  cor- 
rect, nothing  can  so  little  resemble  it  as  the  present  worship 
at  Saint  Peter's.  A  noisy  school  for  children  in  one  corner  ; 
a  sermon  preached  to  a  moveable  audience  at  another ;  a 
concert  in  this  chapel ;  a  ceremony,  half  interrupted  by  the 
distant  sounds  of  the  same  music,  in  another  quarter ;  a 
ceaseless  crowd  sauntering  along  the  nave,  and  circulating 
through  all  the  aisles  ;  listeners  and  gazers  walking,  sitting, 
kneeling ;  some  rubbing  their  foreheads  against  the  worn 
toes  of  the  bronze  of  Saint  Peter,  others  smiling  at  them ;  con- 
fessors in  boxes  absolving  penitents  ;  lacquey  de  places  ex- 
pounding pictures ;  and  all  these  individual  objects  and  ac- 
tions lost  under  an  artificial  heaven,  whose  grandeur  and 
whose  beauties  delight  and  distract  the  eye. 

Such  is  the  interior  of  this  glorious  edifice — the  Mall  of 
Rome  ;  but  religious  sentiments  are,  perhaps,  the  last  which 
it  inspires.  Where  man  has  done  such  wonders,  the  ungrate- 
ful mind  does  not  recur  to  the  Deity  ;  and  it  is  not  at  all  un- 
charitable to  conclude,  that  the  worship  of  the  early  Chris- 
tians, condensed  in  the  damp  crypts  and  catacombs,  was  per- 


*  Tiraboschi,  Storia,  kc.  torn.  vi.  par.  iii.  lib.  iii.  p.  816.  This  was 
about  the  year  1492.  Innocent  VIII.  was  spectator,  and  the  academi- 
isians  of  Pomponins  Lsetus  were  the  actors.  The  plays  were  performed 
also  in  the  cardinal's  house,  and  "  in  media  Circi  cavea,"  probably  the  Co- 
liseum. 


201 

formed  with  a  fervour  which  evaporates  under  the  aerial  vault- 
of  Saint  Peter's. 

His  present  holiness,  talking  to  an  Englishman  of  the 
church  of  Rome,  said  to  him,  "You  are  good  Catholics  in 
your  country  ;  here  of  is  all  talk  (grido)."  Pius  had,  at  the 
same  time,  the  discernment  to  attribute  the  superior  earnest- 
ness of  the  Catholics  of  the  United  Kingdom,  to  their  la- 
bouring under  certain  political  disadvantages,  which  made 
their  piety  a  point  of  honour  and  of  pride.  It  has,  in  truth, 
been  long  before  discovered,  that  penalties  are  little  less  ef- 
fectual than  premiums,  in  keeping  alive  an  absurd  supersti- 
tion, which  can  fall  into  disuse  only  by  entire  toleration  and 
neglect. 

The  indifference  of  the  Italians,  however,  must  be  under- 
stood under  certain  limitations.  It  may  be  true  of  the  loun- 
gers at  Saint  Peter's,  of  the  company  which  throngs  the  pa- 
pal shows,  most  of  whom  are  foreigners,  or  of  the  higher 
classes,  and  perhaps  of  the  clergy  themselves.  But  the  very 
old  of  both  sexes,  the  peasantry,  the  greater  part  of  the  fe- 
males of  all  classes,  but  more  in  the  higher  than  the  middling 
orders,  may  be  considered,  in  the  whole,  sufficiently  obedient 
to  the  easy  injunctions  of  their  religion ;  and,  as  far  as  faith 
is  concerned,  cannot  have  been  much  surpassed  by  the  most 
devout  of  their  ancestors. 

In  all  those  conditions  of  mankind  most  readily  exposed  to 
danger  or  distress,  and  most  easily  affected  by  a  sense  of 
weakness,  by  a  hope  of  the  better,  by  a  fear  of  the  worse, 
the  ancient  superstition  has  recovered  whatever  influence  she 
may  have  lost  by  the  French  invasion.  At  Rome  the  days  of  mi- 
racles are  returned,  and  these  miracles  are  solemnly  examined, 
and,  what  is  not  a  whit  more  ridiculous,  substantiated  ac- 
cording to  the  rules  of  the  council  of  Trent.  If  they  coin- 
cide with  this  test  of  the  sixteenth  century,  they  are  then  ra. 
tified  by  the  signature  of  cardinals,  and  published  in  the  Court 
Gazette.  It  should  be  told  that  this  last  condition  is  prudent ; 
for  a  miracle  at  Rome  is  resorted  to  like  a  fire  at  Constanti- 
nople :  and  on  the  notification  of  an  exorbitant  impost,  the 
Madonnas  open  their  eyes,  in  order,    it"  such  a  phrase  may 


202 

be  allowed,  to  open  those  of  the  people.  This  took  place  ia 
the  spring  of  1817;  but  the  imprisonment  of  thiee  or  four 
priests  soon  restored  both  the  statues  and  their  worshippers 
to  their  usual  insensi])ility.  When  the  images  do  not  declare 
themselves  against  the  government,  their  animation  is  father 
encouraged  than  forbidden,  and  superstition  is  allowed  its  full 
play.  The  new  constitution  which  the  enlightened  Gonsalvi 
has  proposed  does  not  apply  to  the  spiritual  condition  of  the 
people. 

Pius  VII.  himself  underwent,  more  than  once,  a  partial 
ti'anslation  in  1811,  at  Savona,  as  we  find  by  a  picture  now 
circulated  in  his  capital.*  When  his  Holiness  returned  to 
Rome  in  1814,  the  people  went  out  to  meet  him,  with  palms 
in  their  hands,  and  bearing  full  length  portraits  of  him ; 
which  is  an  honour  never  permitted  except  to  the  Beati,  on 
their  road  to  an  apotheosis.  Shortly  after  the  happy  event  the 
city  was  solemnly  lustrated  by  holy  water  and  missions,  that 
is,  sermons  in  the  streets,  to  purge  away  the  contagion  of 
the  French. 

There  are  still  the  above-mentioned  missions  at  Rome  and 
elsewhere,  when  the  audience  are  preached  into  the  imme- 
diate conflagration  of  their  Metastasios  or  other  pernicious 
volumes ;  and,  stranger  still,  pious  whippings  are  still  publicly 
performed  in  addition  to  the  discipline  enjoined  amongst  the 
penances  of  the  convents.  The  reader  may  not  object  to  a 
short  account  of  this  extraordinary  exercise,  such  as  it  is  now 
administered  in  the  oratory  of  the  Padre  Caravita  and  in 
another  church  at  Rome. 

The  ceiemony  takes  place  at  the  time  of  vespers.  It  is 
preceded  by  a  short  exhortation,  during  which  a  bell  rings,  and 
whips,  that  is,  strings  of  knotted  whip-cord,  are  distributed 
(luietly  amongst  such  of  the  audience  as  are  on  their  knees  in 
the  middle  of  the  nave.  Those  resting  on  the  benches  come 
to  edify  by  example  only.  On  a  second  bell,  the  candles  are 
extinguished,  and  the  former  sermon  having  ceased,  a  loud 
voice  issues  from  the  altar,  which  pours  forth  an  exhortation 

*  With  this  legend  :  Pius  .  Sept .  Pont .  Max  .  Savonae.  in  Ecstasim 
Uerum  raptus  die  Assumptionis,  B.  M.  V.  15ta  Augusti,  1811.  His  Ho- 
liness i3  in  the  air. 


203 

to  think  of  unconfessed,  or  unrcpcnted,  or  unforgiven  crimes. 
This  continues  a  sufficient  time  to  allow  the  kneelers  to  strip 
off  their  upper  garments  :  the  tone  of  the  preacher  is  raised 
more  loudly  at  every  word,  and  he  vehemently  exhorts  his 
hearers  to  recollect  that  Christ  and  the  martyrs  suffered  much 
more  than  whipping — "  Show,  then,  your  patience — show  your 
sense  of  Chrisi^s  sacrifice^ — sJiow  it  with  the  whip,'^^  The  fla- 
gellation begins.  The  darkness,  the  tumultuous  sound  of 
blows  in  every  direction — "  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  pray  for 
us !"  bursting  out  at  intervals — the  persuasion  that  you  are 
surrounded  by  atrocious  culprits  and  maniacs,  who  know  of 
an  absolution  for  every  crime — the  whole  situation  has  the 
effect  of  witchery,  and  so  far  from  exciting  a  smile,  lixes  you 
to  the  spot  in  a  trance  of  restless  horror,  prolonged  beyond 
expectation  or  bearing. 

The  scourging  continues  ten  or  fifteen  minutes,  and  when 
it  sounds  as  if  dying  away,  a  bell  rings,  which  seems  to  invi- 
gorate the  penitents,  for  the  lashes  beat  more  quickly  than  be- 
fore. Another  bell  rings,  and  the  blows  subside.  At  a  third 
signal  the  candles  are  re-lighted,  and  the  minister  who  has  dis- 
tributed the  disciplines,  collects  them  again  with  the  same 
discretion  ;  for  the  performers,  to  do  them  justice,  appear  to 
be  too  much  ashamed  of  their  transgressions  to  make  a  show 
of  their  penance,  so  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  say  whether  even 
your  next  neighbour  has  given  himself  the  lash  or  not. 

The  incredulous  or  the  humourest  must  not  suppose  that 
the  darkness  favours  evasion.  There  can  be  no  pleasantry  in 
doing  that  which  no  one  sees,  and  no  merit  can  be  assumed 
where  it  is  not  known  who  accepts  the  disciplines.  The  fla- 
gellation does  certainly  take  place  on  the  naked  skin;  and 
this  ferocious  superstition,  of  which  antiquity  can  furnish  no 
example,*  has,  after  being  once  dropt,  been  revived  as  a  salu- 
tary corrective  of  an  age  of  atheism.     The  former  proces- 

*  The  priests  of  Cybele  consented  to  that  mutilation  on  which  the 
monastic  institutions  have  refined.  Those  of  Bellona  slashed  tiiemselves 
with  knives,  or  appeared  to  do  so  :  and  Commodiis,  who  suspected  some 
deceit,  insisted  on  a  performance  of  the  ceremony  in  his  presence,  and  took 
care  that  the  wounds  should  be  given  in  good  earnest.  But  in  both  these 
instances  the  sufferers  were  priests.    The  wounding  and  cutting  wcr»i  for- 

■26 


204 

sions  of  flagellants  have  not  yet  been  renewed,  but  the  crowds 
which  frequent  the  above  ceremony,  leave  no  doubt  that  they 
would  be  equally  well  attended. 

Such  an  innovation  may  be  tolerated,  and  perhaps  applaud- 
ed, in  the  days  of  barbarism,  when  the  beating  of  themselves 
was  found  the  only  expedient  to  prevent  the  Italians  from  the 
beating  of  each  other ;  but  the  renewal  of  it  at  this  period 
must  induce  us  to  fear  that  the  gradual  progress  of  reason  is 
the  dream  of  philanthropy,  and  that  a  considerable  portion  of 
all  societies,  in  times  the  most  civilized  as  well  as  the  most 
ignorant,  is  always  ready  to  adopt  the  most  unnatural  belief, 
and  the  most  revolting  practices.  It  is  singular,  however,  that 
the  humane  Pius  and  the  intelligent  Cardinal-secretary,  do  not 
perceive  the  objectionable  part  of  an  institution  which  was 
prohibited  at  its  first  rise,  by  some  of  the  wisest  Italian 
princes,  and  is  now  allowed  no  where  but  at  Rome. 

Flagellation  began  to  be  accounted  amongst  the  duties  of 
piety  about  the  year  1260.     It  originated  in  Perugia,  travel- 
led thence  to  Rome,  and  in  a  short  time  the  high-roads  of  Italy 
were  crowded  with  processions  of  penitents,  two  by   two, 
sometimes  nearly  naked,  sometimes  in  sackcloth,  scourging 
themselves  from  city  to  city,  and  preaching  the  correction  of 
vice,  and  peace.     Twenty  thousand  Bolognese,  with  their 
Gonfalonier  at  their  head,  whipped  themselves  all  the  way  to 
Modena.     The  Modenese  made  a  similar  voyage :  and  the 
Chronicles  tell  us,*  that  there  was  at  the  same  time  "  a  great 
jlogging  for  the  love  of  God,'''*  in  Parma  and  Reggio,  and  in 
other  cities  of  Lombardy.  Manfred,  however,  king  of  the  two 
Sicilies,  the  signors  of  Milan,  of  Brescia,   of  Ferrara,  "  the 
sons  and  masters  of  iniquity,"!  objected  to  receiving  the  dis- 
cipline :  they  shut  their  gates  against  the  flagellants,  who,  on 
their  march  towards  Milan,  were  scared  by  the  sight  of  six 

malities,  not  a  penance ;  and  the  people  did  not,  as  in  the  whipping, 
partake  in  such  atrocious  fooleries, 

*  "  Fuit  scovamentum  magnum  pro  amore  dei  in  Parma  et  in  Regio  et 
Mutina,  «t  alibi  etiam  per  Lombardiam,  et  paces  inter  homines  habentes 
guerras  facta  sunt"  Chron.  di  Parma,  ap.  Murat.  Dissertaz-  sopra  H 
antic.  Ital.  75.  p.  602. 

T  "  Iniquitatis  filii  et  magistri  renuerunt  accipere  disciplinam."   Ibid. 


205 

hundred  gibbets  erected  by  the  Torriani,  Lords  of  the  country , 
and  whipped  themselves  back  to  whence  they  came.*  With 
such  opposition,  the  practice  would  have  expired  upon  the 
highways,  had  not  the  pious  foundling  of  fanaticism  been 
caught  up  and  cherished  in  the  warm  bosom  of  mother  church. 
Flagellation  was  no  longer  vagrant  on  the  roads,  but  still 
flourished  in  the  streets  of  cities,  and  in  churches,  and  in  con- 
vents. It  became  also  the  bond  of  union  and  the  consolatioa 
of  many  lay  confraternities,  as  well  as  religious  foundations,  wa* 
enriched  by  papal  indulgencies,  and  transmitted,  with  unim- 
paired favour,  from  generation  to  generation. 

The  French  government  had  other  uses,  not  so  absurd,  but 
more  pernicious,  to  which  to  apply  the  nervous  arms  of  their 
subjects,  penitent  and  impenitent.  Self-whipping  was  abolish- 
ed— it  might  have  been  thought  for  ever — but  Pius  VII.  ha* 
returned,  and  seems  to  forget  that  he  is  not  Clement  IV. 
The  scattered  funds  for  idleness  have  been,  as  far  as  possible, 
recollected  in  the  Roman  states,  and  some  other  parts  of 
Italy ;  and  religious  orders  re-established,  in  many  instances, 
to  the  regret  of  the  communities  themselves.  The  education 
of  youth  is,  we  have  seen,  again  put  into  the  hands  of  the  re- 
suscitated Jesuits,!  whose  suppression  is  now  recognised 
amongst  the  causes  of  the  late  convulsions  of  Europe. 

These  views  are  powerfully  seconded  by  the  House  of  Aus- 
tria, whose  possessions,  under  various  branches  of  the  same 


*  "  Sed  volentibus  venire  Mediolanum  per  Turrianos  sexcentae  furcae 
parantur,  quo  viso  retrocesserunt."  Ibid.  p.  600-  torn.  iii.  of  the  Italian 
■edition. 

f  Hume,  the  friend  of  all  establishments,  and  who  owns  the  miscon- 
duct of  the  Jesuits  to  have  been  much  exaggerated,  has  this  passage. 
"  This  reproach,  however,  they  must  bear  from  posterity,  that  from  the 
very  nature  of  their  institution  they  were  engaged  to  pervert  learning, 
the  only  effectual  remedy  against  superstition,  into  a  nourishment  of  that 
infirmity  ;  and  as  their  erudition  was  chiefly  of  the  ecclesiastical  and 
scholastic  kind  (though  a  few  members  have  cultivated  polite  literature), 
they  were  only  the  more  enabled  by  that  acquisition  to  refine  away  the 
plainest  dictates  of  morality,  and  to  erect  a  new  system  of  casuistry,  by 
which  prevarication,  perjury,  and  every  crime,  when  it  served  their 
ghostly  purposes,  might  be  justified  and  defended."  History  of  England, 
Elizabeth,  cap.  Ixj. 


206 

family,  now  stretch  from  the  Apennines  of  Cortona  to  the  Po 
and  the  Alps.  The  Tuscans,  since  the  reign  of  Cosmo  III., 
have  received  the  bent  of  superstition,  and  are  distinguished, 
particularly  the  Florentines,  for  a  disposition  to  credulity 
which  will  now  return  with  ail  its  force.  Yet  Pignotti,  only 
a  few  years  past,  could  still  disperse  his  liberal  opinions 
through  his  engaging  history.  The  literary  journal  of  Lom- 
bardy  is  revised  by  the  pensioners  of  the  court ;  yet,  in  the 
same  precincts,  the  author  of  the  Aristodemus  still  lives  and 
writes.  A  Geratian  has  been  placed  at  the  head  of  the  uni- 
versity of  Padua,  yet  the  Italian  Odyssey  has  just  added 
another  wreath  to  the  poet  of  the  neighbouring  Verona.  Yet, 
if  the  present  depression  shall  continue  to  weigh  upon  the  Ita- 
lians, such  proofs  of  the  unextinguishable  genius  of  the  soil 
will  become  daily  more  rare.  All  the  elements  which,  under 
the  creative  encouragement  of  a  free,  or  even  an  independent 
government,  might  compose  a  great  and  enlightened  nation, 
will  mingle  into  their  primitive  confusion,  and  sedate  ignorance 
establish,  upon  the  inert  mass,  her  leaden  throne.  A  ray  of 
light  may  struggle  through  the  darkness,  another  Canova  may 
arise  after  a  dreary  interval,  and  a  faint  voice  remind  some 
future  age,  that  Italy  was  once  the  land  of  poets. 

"  In  vain,  in  vain,  the  all-composing  hour 

Resistless  falls:  the  Muse  obeys  the  power. 

She  comes !  she  comes !  the  sable  throne  behold, 

Of  night  primeval,  and  of  Chaos  old ! 

Before  her,  Fancy's  gilded  clouds  decay, 

And  all  its  varying  rainbows  die  away ; 

Wit  shoots  in  vain  its  momentary  fires, 

The  meteor  drops,  and  in  a  flash  expires. 

Nor  public  flame  nor  private  dares  to  shine, 
Nor  human  spark  is  left,  nor  glimpse  divine. 
Lo  !  thy  dread  empire,  Chaos !  is  restored, 
Light  dies  before  thy  uncreating  word  : 
Thy  hand,  great  Anarch !  lets  the  curtain  fall. 
And  universal  darkness  buries  all. 


207 

Stanza  CLXXIII. 
Lo,  Kemi !  navelled  in  the  woody  hiUi. 

Stanza  CLXXIV. 
And  near  Albano^s  scarce  divided  waves,  tfc.  ifc 

Nemi,  that  is,  the  Arician  grove,  and  the  Alban  hill,  come 
within  the  tour  comnnonly  made  by  travellers  ;  and  a  descrip- 
tion, in  the  usual  style,  will  be  found  in  all  the  common  guide- 
books. No  one  should  omit  to  visit  the  two  lakes.  The 
tunnel,  or  emissary,  cut  nearly  two  miles  through  the  moun- 
tain, from  the  Alban  lake,  is  the  most  extraordinary  memorial 
of  Roman  perseverance  to  be  found  in  the  world.  An  Eng- 
lish miner  would  be  at  a  loss  to  account  for  such  a  perfora- 
tion made  without  shafts.  It  has  served  to  carry  off  the  re- 
dundant water  from  the  time  of  the  Veian  war,  398  years  be- 
fore Christ,  to  this  day,  nor  has  received,  nor  is  in  want  of  re- 
pairs.* 

When  the  traveller  has  wandered  amongst  the  ruins  of  vil- 
las and  tombs,  to  all  of  which  great  names  are  given,!  he  may 
examine  the  productions  of  a  discovery  which  has  been  lately 
made,  and  which,  if  there  be  no  deception,  has  brought  to 
light  a  society  possessed,  apparently,  of  all  the  arts  of  ancient 
civilization,  and  existing  before  the  arrival  of  j^neas  in  Italy  j 
a  society  which  was  buried  in  the  convulsion  that  changed  the 
volcano  of  Albano  into  a  lake. 

Doctor  Alexander  Visconti  has  enabled  us  to  judge  of  this 
prodigious  discovery,  by  publishing  a  memoir  on  the  subject, 

*  All  that  Livy  says  of  this  great  work,  after  mentioning  that  it  had 
been  prescribed  by  a  Tuscan  soothsayer  and  the  oracle  of  Apollo,  is,  "  Jam 
ex  lacu  Albano  aqua  emissa  in  agros."  Lib.  v.  cap.  liv.  It  was  completed 
in  a  year.    It  is  three  feet  and  a  half  wide,  and  six  feet  in  height. 

\  Bere  you  have  Pompey's  villa,  Porapey's  tomb,  or,  if  that  will  not 
serve,  the  tomb  of  the  Horatii  and  Curiatii,  or,  since  that  may  not  be 
bold  enough,  the  tomb  of  Ascanius,  in  another  quarter.  Some,  who  are 
not  content  with  tombs,  call  them  villas.  At  the  bottom  of  the  hilJ,  the 
antiquaries  know  the  verj'  cavern  where  Milo  killed  Claudius. 


208 

and  the  reader  may  like  to  see  the  fact  stated  plainly,  and  di- 
vested of  the  solemn  whimsical  pedantry  of  the  antiquary,  and 
of  the  legal  involution  of  the  attached  affidavits.     It  appears, 
then,  that  the  Signor  Carnevali,  a  gentleman  of  Albano,  had 
found,  in  January,  1817,  a  considerable  quantity  of  cinerary 
vases,  in  turning  up  the  ground  for  a  plantation,  near  the  road 
from  Castel  Gandolfo  to  Marino.     On  the  28th  of  the  same 
month,  one  Signor  Tomasetti,  breaking  up  a  continued  mass 
of  peperine  which  covers  the  declivity  of  the  hill  near  the  road 
to  Marino,  on  the  ground  called  Montecucco,  when  he  came 
to  the  distance  of  five  hundred  and  seventy-one  Roman  canes 
from  the  spot  where  Signor  Carnevali  had  discovered  his 
vases,  suddenly  found  several  cinerary  vases,  all  of  them  bro- 
ken excepting  one.     These  were  under  the  layer  of  peperine. 
The  two  gentlemen  above-mentioned  resolved  then  to  make 
farther  excavations,  and,  in  presence  of  several  respectable 
witnesses,  on  the  4th  of  the  following  February,  broke  up 
another  mass  of  the  same  pepenne,  which  measured  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty-nine  and  a  half  Roman  canes  in  square  surface. 
They  cut  downwards  through  about  a  palm  and  a  half  of  com- 
mon soil,  and  then  lower,  to  the  depth  of  two  palms  of  pepe- 
rine, and  came  to  some  white  cretaceous  earth,  the  layer  of 
which  they  found  to  be  a  palm  and  a  half  deep.     In  this  layer 
they  found  a  terra  cotta,  figured,  vase,  broken  in  many  pieces. 
The  vase  was  seen  in  its  bed  by  all  the  witnesses,  previously 
to  being  taken  up.     Other  similar  fragments  were  discovered 
as  the  labour  continued  ;  and  it  was  observed  that  the  mass  of 
peperine  became  much  thicker,  and  covered  the  surface  to 
the  depth  of  four  palms.     Pieces  of  a  conduit  pipe  of  some 
size  were  also  found,  and  that  not  in  mass,  but  separated  from 
one  another.     The  fragments  of  vases  produced  from  this  ex- 
cavation, were  not  of  sufficient  size  to  furnish  any  conjecture 
as  to  the  form  of  the  vessels :  but  from  the  bottom  of  one, 
more  entire  than  the  rest,  they  were  thought  to  have  had  the 
shape  of  a  pila,  or  water  cistern. 

It  should  be  told  that,  at  different  periods,  four  and  three 
years  before,  other  fragments  of  vases  had  been  found  under 
the  peperine  •  and  that  under  the  same  mass  of  peperine  cer- 
tain stone-cutters  had  found  pieces  of  iron,  appearing  to  them 


209 

to  be  nails.  Of  these  discoveries  affidavits  were  made  a  little 
after  the  period  of  the  present  excavation,  in  March.  The 
Signor  Carnevah  tells  his  visiters  of  a  metal  mirror  also  found 
in  the  same  position,  but  the  affidavits  make  no  mention  of  it. 

The  whole  of  ihe  fragments  found  on  the  fourth  of  February 
were  carefully  collected,  and,  the  next  day,  in  presence  of  the 
former  witnesses  and  a  notary  public,  were  examined  and 
compared  with  the  entire  vases  found  in  January  by  the  Sig- 
nor Carnevali.  The  consequence  of  this  comparison  was  a 
solemn  judgment  that  ihe  fragments  and  the  entire  vases  were 
of  the  same  composition  and  materials. 

This  identity  being  established,  the  same  value  was,  of 
course,  attached  to  the  vases  of  the  Signor  Carnevali,  which 
had  been  found  not  under  the  peperine,  as  to  that  of  Signor 
Tomasetti,  and  to  the  fragments  discovered  on  the  fourth  of 
February,  under  the  rock.  As,  therefore,  the  Tomasetti  vase 
and  the  fragments  were  in  themselves  in  nowise  curious,  the 
antiquaries  proceeded  to  the  examination  of  the  Carnevali 
vases  with  the  same  satisfaction  as  if  they  had  been  found  un- 
der the  rock  with  the  others. 

The  Doctor  Visconti  addressed  the  above  letter  to  his 
friend,  Signor  Carnevali,  in  April ;  and  the  memoir  having 
been  read  in  the  Archasological  Society  at  Rome,  was  shortly 
after  published,  together  with  the  affidavits  before  alluded  to. 
This  memoir  discusses  the  contents  found  in  the  Carnevali 
vases,  which  are  indeed  so  curious,  that  it  has  been  thought 
worth  while  to  give  a  drawing  of  them,  which,  after  personal 
examination,  the  writer  can  aver  to  be  very  correct. 

The  whole  memoir  goes  to  prove  that  the  vases  and  the 
nails,  and  all  the  Alban  fragments,  belong  to  a  state  of  society 
existing  in  this  mountain  before  the  volcano  of  Albano  was  ex- 
tinguished, that  is,  at  some  unknown  period  before  Ascanius 
founded  Alba  Longa,  in  the  year  1176  before  the  Chri;;tian 
era. 

It  is  premised  that  the  peperine  under  which  the  Tomasetti 
vase,  and  (by  induction)  all  the  vases,  were  laid,  was  originally 
a  volcanic  substance  thrown  up  at  the  great  convulsion,  and 
gradually  formed  into  stone.  These  burials,  then,  did  noi 
take  place  after,  but  before,  the  present  snrface  was  formed. 


210 

therefore  they  belong  to  a  people  who  lived  at  Alba  before  the 
lake  was  formed,  and  the  crater  became  extinct ;  these  peo- 
ple Visconti  calls  Aborigines.  With  this  foundation  the  Ro- 
man antiquary  endeavours  to  show,  that  the  burials  may  have 
belonged  to  a  people  even  of  the  extreme  antiquity  requisite 
for  such  a  gup}>osition. 

For  the  burnt  bones  are  no  objection  :  burning  the  dead  was 
practised  by  the  very  ancient  Greeks,  by  the  very  ancient  Tro- 
jans, by  the  very  ancient  Thebans,  by  the  very  ancient  Ro- 
mans, and  the  very  ancient  Gauls,  also  by  the  modern  Indians. 

The  vessels  of  earth  are  no  objection,  for  the  tomb  of  Be- 
lus  contained  a  vase  of  glass,  therefore  clay  must  be  much 
more  ancient ;  besides  which  Numa  had  a  college  of  potters  ; 
and,  in  the  time  of  Julius  Caisar,  the  colonists  at  Capua  disco- 
vered some  very  old  monumental  vascida  of  pottery,  with  some 
inscribed  brass  tablets,  saying  they  belonged  to  the  tomb  of 
Capys  ;  add  to  this,  these  very  ancient  pottery  works  were  of 
a  dark  colour,  as  are  the  Carnevali  vases,  as  if  tinged  with 
the  oxid  of  iron,  and  their  composition  differs  from  the  com- 
mon clay  by  the  addition  of  a  certain  quantity  of  volcanic  sand, 
and  according  to  a  chemical  analysis,  they  are  thus  combined 
in  every  100  parts. 

Silicious  earth      ......  63^^ 

Aluminous  do 21  i 

Carbonate  of  lime 4^ 

Water lOi 


100 

The  different  contents  of  the  dcposite  are  no  objection, 
for  the  large  outward  jar,  the  cinerary  urn,  the  ointment  vase, 
and  the  metal  ornaments  within  the  cinerary  vase,  the  cale- 
factorium,  the  perfume  vase,  the  vase  called  guttus,  the  five 
other  vases,  perhaps,  for  wine,  and  milk,  and  honey,  the  bowl 
and  the  three  platters,  may  be  all  shown  to  be  of  most  an- 
cient usage.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  funereal  lamp  of 
rough  workmanship,  and  moie  especially  of  a  little  rude  idol 
which  seems  to  be  one  of  the  Oscillce,  a  sacrifice  to  Dis,  in 
place  of  the  human  victim,  and  of  that  sort  which  Rachel 


211 

stole  from  her  father.      "  Erat  Laban  ad  tondendaa  oves,  et 
Rachel  furata  est  idola  patris  5?/t." 

As  for  the  bronze  utensils,  they  are  also  of  the  highest  an- 
tiquity, for  brass  was  the  first  metal  employed ;  the  fibula 
may  have  pinned  the  amianthus  or  other  cloth  in  which  the 
ashes  were  wrapped,  a  conjecture  more  probable  from  its 
being  made  without  soldering  :  the  elegance  of  the  work- 
manship does  not  surpass  that  of  the  coin  of  Servius  Tullius. 
Tubal  Cain  was  a  worker  in  all  works  of  brass  and  iron. 
The  small  wheel,  the  little  lance  head,  the  two  hooks,  the 
stylus,  were  part  of  the  sepulchral  munera  buried  with  the 
dead  ;  the  spoked  wheel  was  as  old  as  the  time  of  Homer ; 
the  stylus  also  having  the  obliterating  part  moveable,  differs 
from  the  usual  form,  and,  therefore,  is  of  great  antiquity ; 
styli  were  used  at  Rome  in  the  time  of  Porsenna.  The 
Doctor  Visconti  attempts  no  explanation  of  the  forked  instru- 
ment in  terra  cotta,  seen  in  the  first  drawing.  The  mysterious 
figures  and  points  observable  in  the  second  drawing,  may  be 
letters,  of  which,  "  according  to  Pliny,  the  Pheniciajis  were 
the  inventors,''''  and  were  appropriately  added  to  a  monument, 
quia  monet  nos. 

So  far  the  Roman  antiquary.  It  is  now  our  turn  to  make 
a  few  remarks.  In  the  first  place,  then,  it  should  be  told 
that  in  the  month  of  May,  following  the  discovery,  the 
ground  whence  the  interments  were  extracted  was  covered 
up  and  shown  to  no  one  even  upon  inquiry.  An  English  na- 
turalist who  visited  the  spot,  was  unable  to  discover  the  pre- 
cise excavation  ;  and  it  was  the  opinion  of  the  same  gentle- 
man, that  the  stone  called  peperine  was,  in  fact,  a  tufo  gra- 
dually formed  by  the  sand  and  water  crumbling  down  the  de- 
clivity from  the  summit  of  the  hill,  and  not  a  volcanic  forma- 
tion, of  which  he  discerned  no  signs.  According  to  this  sup- 
position, there  is  no  necessity  for  having  recourse  to  the  ex- 
treme antiquity  assumed  by  the  Doctor  Visconti. 

In  the  second  place,  although  there  was  only  one  entire 
vase  actually  found  under  the  rock,  and  that  vase  was  of 
much  more  simple  workmanship,  and  contained  none  of  the 
curious  implements  of  the  others,  the  Signer  Carnevali,  in 
showing  bi«  museum,  makes  no  distinction  between  the  two 

•2.7 


212 

discoveries,  but,  on  the  contrary,  endeavours,  both  by  his  si- 
lence, and,  when  he  is  pushed,  by  his  assertions,  to  confound 
the  two,  assuming  that  his  whole  museum  is  of  equal  anti- 
quity with  the  said  Tomasetti  vase. 

This  remark  becomes  more  important,  although  more  in- 
vidious, when  it  is  told  that  the  articles  of  the  museum  are 
for  sale,  the  price  of  a  complete  interment  being  fifty  louis- 
d'ors.  This  incomprehensible  dispersion  of  such  treasures 
does  not  quite  agree  with  the  following  innocent  conclusion 
with  which  Visconti  perorates. 

"  Dear  Friend, 

"  These  monuments  are  come  into  your 
house, 

'  Data  sunt  ipsis  quoque  fata  sepulchris :' 

it  seems  to  me  that  the  most  venerable  antiquities  strive  to 
get  into  your  hands,  for  a  few  days  since  you  have  acquired 
that  very  ancient  ces  grave,  never  yet  published,  weighing  four 
pounds  and  a  half,  with  an  anchor  on  one  side,  and  a  tripod 
on  the  reverse  :  perchance  it  is  the  destiny  of  tripods  to  fall 
into  the  hands  of  the  best  of  men.  I  recommend  to  you 
these  innocent  utensils*  that  have  lasted  for  so  many  years, 
more  precious  than  gold  and  than  silver,  since  they  were 
made  in  times  when,  according  to  Pliny,  gold  and  silver  were 
worked  not  for  men,  nor  even  for  the  gods  themselves. 
Take  care  that  they  are  not  broken  nor  lost,  but  pass  down 
from  age  to  age  like  the  stars.  What  a  number  of  fine  things 
you  have — and  you  may  yet  possess  ! !  but  your  heart  is  re- 
fulgent above  all,  and  if  your  modesty  did  not  snatch  the  pen 
from  my  hand,  how  much  I  should  write  on  that  topic  :  I 
wait  then  for  your  other  agreeable  commands,  that  I  may  show 
you  by  deeds  that  I  am,"  &.c. 

The  owner  may  think  he  follows  his  friend's  advice,  by  re- 
taining one  or  two  of  the  best  specimens. 

Thirdly,  the  museum  contains  a  great  variety  of  articles, 
all  of  them  inferred  to  have  been  laid  under  the  rock,  but 

*  "  Vi  raccomando  questi  InnoceDti  stoviglie."    Lettera,  iac-  p.  29. 


I 


213 

for  which  circumstance  there  is  no  guarantee,  even  in  the 
affidavits  attached  to  the  memoir ;  the  bronze  implements  in 
great  number  and  of  every  shape,  are  of  as  elegant  and 
elaborate  workmanship  as  is  to  be  found  in  the  specimens 
which  are  seen  in  the  other  museums  of  Europe,  and  which 
confessedly  belong  to  a  much  later  age  than  that  assumed  by 
Visconti.  These  bronze  implements  are  frequently  discover- 
ed in  Italy  and  Greece,  and  certainly  do  not  agree  with  the 
pottery  of  the  large  jar,  or  of  the  cinerary  vase,  which  is  of 
a  form  much  more  rude  than  suits  with  their  shape  and  make. 
They  do  however  agree  well  enough  with  the  lamps  and 
lacrymatories,  which  are  entirely  of  the  kind  discovered 
every  day  in  Greek  and  Roman  burials.  It  is  possible  then, 
and,  all  things  considered,  probable,  that  the  interments  have 
been  completed  and  adjusted  since  the  discovery,  and  that 
part  of  the  pottery  may  belong  to  one  period,  and  the  imple- 
ments and  the  other  part  of  the  pottery  to  another.  The 
styli  are  in  great  variety,  and  belonged  to  a  people  whose 
alphabet  was  less  rude  than  the  pretended  letters  on  the 
vases-r— one  of  the  fibulae  has  not  altogether  lost  the  spring. 
It  must  not  be  deemed  too  uncharitable  to  hesitate  before  we 
believe  that  all  the  articles  were  found  in  the  Alban  vases. 

In  the  fourth  place  :  the  larger  pottery  is  neither  Roman 
nor  Tuscan.  It  is  not  altogether  unlike  that  found  in  other 
places,  and  supposed  to  be  the  work  of  the  early  inhabitants, 
whom  it  is  usual  to  call  Indigenes. 

The  most  learned  Roman  writers,  Porcius  Cato,  Caius 
Sempronius,  and  others,  were  of  opinion  that  the  Aborigines, 
or,  as  others  called  them,  the  Aberrigines,  were  Greeks  from 
Achaia,  who  had  migrated  to  Italy  many  years  before  the 
Trojan  war :  and  Dionysius  says,  that,  in  that  case,  they 
were  Arcadians  who  accompanied  CEnotrus  and  Peucetius 
seventeen  generations  before  the  Trojan  war,*  some  of  whom 
settled  in  Umbria,t  and  sent  out  colonies  to  the  Corniculan 
or  Tiburtine  mountains.]:  These  Aborigines  were  joined  by 
the  Pelasgi,  colonists  originally  from  Argos,§  and  the  two 
nations,  about  three  generations  before  the  Trojan  war,  were 

*  Lib.  i.  cap.  xi.  f  Ibid.  cap.  xiii.  t  Ibid.  cap.  xvi- 

^  Ibid.  i.  cap.  xvii.  xviii.  xx. 


214 

in  possession  of  all  the  country  from  the  Tiber  to  the  Liris  ;* 
but  the  Pelasgi  were  extinct  at  the  end  of  that  war,t  or  were 
mingled  with  the  Aborigines.^  According  to  this  account  we 
have  Greeks  settled  for  ages  in  these  hills  before  the  coming 
of  iEneas  to  Italy  ;  but  that  these  Greeks  were  Uttle  better 
than  barbarians,  we  may  collect  from  the  same  authority, 
which  tells  us  that  the  Arcadians  under  Evander,  who  settled 
on  the  Palatine  hill  about  sixty  years  before  the  Trojan  war,§ 
were  the  first  that  introduced  the  Greek  letters,  Greek 
music,  and  Greek  manners  into  Italy. ||  Besides  these  Greek 
Aborigines,  Dionysius  seems  to  talk  of  certain  indigenal  na- 
tives who  assisted  them  and  the  Trojans  in  founding  Alba 
Longa.  But  who  these  Indigenes  were,  except  they  were 
Tuscans,  whom  he  inclines  to  beUeve  natives  of  Italy,**  does 
not  appear  from  his  account. 

Whoever  were  the  makers  of  the  bronze  implements,  and 
some  of  the  lesser  vases,  they  must  be  supposed  in  a  state  of 
civilization  superior  to  that  which  Evander  improved  by  the 
introduction  of  Greek  arts  and  letters,  and  which  must  have 
belonged  to  the  people  living  there  before  the  mountain  as- 
sumed its  present  shape.     The  pottery  is  sufficiently  rude  for 
that  age,  but  unless  all  the  articles  were  found  together,  and 
in  the  pretended  position,  nothing  can  be  argued  with  safety 
from  any  of  the  phenomena.     Viscontihas  gained  nothing  by 
showing  the  remote  antiquity  of  similar  manufactures.     No 
one  doubted  that  fact,  but  the  question  evidently  reduces  it- 
self to  the  assigning  these  individual  interments  to  a  time  and 
nation  to  which   they   may  be  reasonably   referred.     The 
inquiry  undoubtedly  is,  supposing  the  whole  discovery  to  be 
established,  and   that  nothing  has  been  interpolated,  what 
people  ever  lived  on  the  Alban  hill  at  any  period  who  might 
have  made  these  vases  ? 

Since  the  return  of  the  writer  to  England  he  has  heard  the 
suggestion  of  an  English  antiquary,  which  is  certainly  more 
ingenious,  and  it  may  be  thought  more  satisfactory  than  the 
researches  of  Visconti.     That  which  puzzled  the  Italian  most 

*  Lib.  cap.  \x.  f  Ibid.  cap.  xxiv. 

X  Ibid.  cap.  XXX.  ^  Ibid.  cap.  xxxi. 

U  Ibid.  cap.  xxxiii.  **  Ibid.  cap.  xxix. 


215 

has  furnished  the  Englishman  with  the  clue  of  his  conjecture  ; 
for  those  figures  which  Visconti  thinks  may  be  letters,  or, 
perhaps,  whole  words,  like  the  Chinese  characters,  have  in- 
duced him  to  come  to  a  very  different  conclusion. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  root  or  germ  of  each  of  these 
figures  is  a  cross, 

and  it  is  not  a  little  singular  that  they  bear  a  very  close  re- 
semblance to  a  certain  Runic  character,  or  magical  sign, 
found  upon  many  northern  monuments,  and  which  is  con- 
sidered as  denoting  the  hammer,  or  rather  the  battle-axe,  of 
the  Scandinavian  Thor.  The  weapon  of  Thor  was  figured 
by  a  cross  in  very  remote  ages.  When  the  horn  of  mead  was 
passed  to  Hako  the  Good,  he  made  the  sign  of  the  cross  over 
the  vessel.  "  What !"  exclaimed  a  heathen  Earl,  "  will  not 
the  king  worship  our  gods  ?"  "  Nay,"  answered  Earl  Sigurd, 
*'  the  king  does  as  we  do,  he  blessed  the  liquor  in  the  name 
of  Thor,  by  making  the  sign  of  the  hammer  over  it,  before 
he  quaffed  it." 

The  cruciform  hammer  takes  various  shapes,  of  which  the 
following  are  specimens. 

12  3  4  S 

«  7  8  9 

1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6.  On  medals,  or  amulets,  in  the  Museum  ot' 
the  Royal  Academy  at  Copenhagen,  on  all  of  which  is  also  a 
figure  of  Thor  riding  in  his  chariot,  drawn  by  his  Goats. 

7.  On  a  Runic  monument  lately  discovered  at  Snoldelev. 

8.  At  the  end  of  a  line  of  Runic  characters  engraved  on  a 
rock  in  Gothland. 


216 

9.  On  a  Runic  monument  in  the  parish  of  Skeftuna,  in 
Upland. 

The  similarity  between  these  Runic  "  hammer  crosses,'* 
and  the  marks  on  the  vases  of  Alba  Longa,  is  so  great,  that 
one  might  be  tempted  to  maintain  their  identity  ;  and  there 
is,  perhaps,  some  connexion  between  both,  and  the  crux  ansata 
of  the  Egyptian  monuments.  It  is  certain  that  the  mythology 
of  the  Asi,  although  its  doctrines  may  have  been  clad  in 
another  guise,  was  not  confined  to  the  Scandinavian  race. 
And  it  seems  that  a  character  bearing  a  close  affinity  to  the 
Runic  alphabet,  was  once  widely  diffused  throughout  ancient 
Europe.  The  national  enthusiasm  of  the  northern  antiqua- 
rians has  too  often  outstripped  their  judgment ;  and  many  of 
the  fanciful  analogies  of  such  really  excellent  authors  as  Pe- 
rugakioled  and  Rudbuck,  must  unfortunately  be  reckoned 
amongst  the  dreams  of  the  learned ;  yet  the  truths  which 
they  have  discovered  may  be  easily  separated  from  their  de- 
lusions. Perhaps  a  Celtic  origin  may  be  ascribed  to  the 
tomb.  Of  the  Celtic  Taranus  we  know  little  ;  yet  there  are 
Roman  inscriptions  which  show  that  he  was  worshipped  as 
the  Roman  Jupiter.  And  it  cannot  be  denied  but  that  the 
deity  whom  the  Romans  knew  as  Jupiter,  was  the  thunderer 
of  the  Northmen.  If  the  superincumbent  body  of  peperino 
is  to  be  considered  as  a  proof  of  the  remote  antiquity  of  the 
tomb,  it  must  be  referred  to  the  Celtic  aborigines  of  Italy ; 
but  if  the  bed  can  be  considered  as  a  formation  of  compara- 
tively recent  date,  then  the  vase  may  contain  the  ashes  of 
some  Gaulish  chieftain,  or  of  a  heathen  Goth  or  Lombard. 

A  character  resembling  the  hammer  of  Thor  is  seen  in 
inscriptions  discovered  in  Spain,  and  which  resemble  the  le- 
gends of  the  medals  which  the  Spaniards  call  the  "  medallas 
desconocidas."  The  same  character  also  lurks  in  many 
magical  books,  though  under  other  combinations.  A  diagram, 
or  figure  to  which  it  bears  some  affinity,  is  often  drawn  by 


boys  in  Italy  ;   I  ^TT^^/J  they  do  not  however  ascribe  any 
meaning  to  it.     It  may  be  considered  as  a  wild  speculation 


.  / 


2J7 

to  discover  the  traces  of  ancient  mythology  in  a  school-boy's 
scrawl ;  but  a  remarkable  instance  can  be  given  of  the  strange 
stubborn  vitality  of  these  vestiges  of  the  superstitions  of  the 
elder  day.     We  often  see  English  shepherds  cutting  the  pen- 


talpha  )Cf^  in  the  turf,  although  they  never  heard  of  Anti- 

ochus,  or  saw  his  coin,  and  although  they  are  ignorant  of  its 
mystic  power. 

It  may  finally  be  observed,  that  supposing  the  state  of  re- 
mote society  to  have  existed,  which  the  Italian  antiquary  as- 
signs to  the  hill,  and  supposing  these  relics  to  have  been  sud- 
denly overwhelmed  by  the  volcano  in  those  unknown  ages, 
some  other  vestiges  besides  sepulchral  deposites  would  have 
been  found  to  attest  the  same  industry  and  skill  in  the  arts 
which  is  manifested  in  these  specimens. 

Notwithstanding  however  these  difficulties,  and  a  division 
of  opinion  even  amongst  the  Romans,  the  discovery  of  the 
Alban  vases  has  been  considered  of  much  importance,  and 
has  transported  the  antiquaries  into  ages  and  amongst  nations, 
where,  having  no  guide  to  lead,  and  no  witnesses  to  contra- 
dict them,  they  may  form  leisurely  a  world  of  their  own. 


ESSAY 


ON  TBK 


PRESENT  LITERATURE  OF  ITALY. 


28 


ESSAY 


PRESENT  LITERATURE  OF  ITALY 


It  is  the  boast  of  the  Italians,  that  their  hterature  has  flourish- 
ed with  unequal,  but  uninterrupted  brilliancj,  from  the  thir- 
teenth century  to  the  present  day. 

The  progress  of  time  alone  would  naturally  have  produced 
and  obliterated  many  innovations,  but  the  frequent  domestic 
revolutions,  the  repeated  irruptions,  the  arms  and  the  arts  of 
strangers,  succeeding  each  other  rapidly  and  imperceptibly, 
and  bringing  with  them  new  laws,  and  manners,  and  opinions, 
have  occasioned  in  Italy  more  vicissitudes  than  are  to  be  found 
in  the  literature  of  any  other  country.  Thus  it  is  that  their 
critics  have  been  able  to  point  out  at  least  ten  different  epo- 
ques  when  it  has  assumed  certain  characteristics,  or,  to  use  a 
single  word,  a  physiognom}^,  altogether  distinct  from  that  of 
any  preceding  or  subsequent  period.  The  average  duration 
assigned  to  each  of  these  epoques,'  has  been  laid  down  at 
about  half  a  century.  This  is  the  utmost  length  that  any  in- 
dividual taste  and  mode  of  writing  can  be  discovered  to  have 
prevailed. 

The  above  remark  is  purposely  premised  to  a  short  account 
which  it  is  intended  to  give  of  the  present  state  of  Italian 
literature  ;  that  is  to  say,  of  the  character  of  the  actual 
epoque,  which  embraces  not  only  those  writers  at  present  in 
existence,  but  others  who  have  powerfully  contributed  to  form 
the  taste  and  the  tone  which  will  continue  to  prevail  until 


222 

succeeded  by  another  revolution  in  the  repubUc  of  letters. 
The  latter  Italian  authors  may  be  expected  to  form  a  diversi- 
ty more  distinct  than  those  of  any  other  generation,  when  it 
is  recollected,  that  whilst  they  wrote,  the  most  extraordinary 
change  was  prepared  and  consummated,  that  had  ever  affect- 
ed the  moral  or  pohtical  world.  That  the  great  convulsions 
which  shook  not  only  "  mightiest  monarchies,"  but  also  the 
mind  of  man,  in  all  the  countries  of  Europe,  should  commu- 
nicate itself  to  these  authors,  was  inevitable,  and  will  be  dis- 
covered in  the  works,  the  principles,  the  character,  and  the 
estimation,  of  the  most  celebrated  amongst  them,  whom  it  is 
proposed  to  examine  and  portray.  These  authors  will  be 
their  poets  ;  who  are  selected,  first,  because  the  verse  of 
eveiy  country  is  the  depository  of  the  language,  the  taste, 
and  the  manners,  of  the  times ;  secondly,  because  this  is 
found  more  particularly  the  case  in  those  nations  whose  ima- 
gination is  their  predominant  faculty ;  and,  in  the  third  place, 
because  the  writers  chosen  on  this  occasion,  are  in  part  dis- 
tinguished for  their  compositions  in  prose. 

This  method  of  illustration  might  be  liable  to  objections 
in  any  other  country  than  Italy,  where  the  few  men  of 
superior  genius  are  separated  from  the  crowd  of  writers  by 
a  barrier,  which  in  other  nations  is  rarely  visible  until  poste- 
rity has  pronounced  the  final  decision.  In  Italy  the  judg- 
ment is  in  some  sort  formed  and  given  by  their  cotempora- 
ries ;  and  thus,  although  the  struggle  to  attain  the  eminence 
may  be  more  serious  and  protracted,  there  is  less  danger  of 
future  degradation. 

An  intimate  acquaintance  is,  however,  requisite,  to  per- 
ceive the  difference  between  the  esteemed  and  the  popular 
author :  for,  otherwise,  the  above-mentioned  singularity  of 
Italian  literature  would  be  reduced  to  a  shade  only  of  dis. 
tinction  from  that  of  other  countries.  A  book  may  be  in  the 
hands  of  all  readers,  and,  during  some  years,  be  the  study 
and  the  talk  of  all.  This  was  the  case  with  the  animali  par- 
lantl  of  Casti :  but  the  author  had  no  pretence  or  right  to 
renown.  On  the  other  hand,  a  work  which  few  compara- 
tively shall  peruse,  because  every  one  cannot  understand, 
having  obtained  the  suffrages  of  those  distinguished  above  the 


223 

common  class  of  readers,  acquires  for  the  author  an  estabUsh- 
ed  name,  which  the  people  themselves  are  soon  taught  to  re- 
peat with  respect,  although  entirely  ignorant  or  insensible  of 
the  specific  merit  which  has  obtained  their  applause.  Such 
esteem  may  be  compared  to  the  blind  honours  conferred  up- 
on a  successful  general  by  the  peaceful  peasantry,  who  wish 
no  other  signal  or  reason  for  their  shouts  than  the  gazette, 
but  it  is  not  less  devoted. 

If  we  endeavour  to  account  for  this  characteristic  in  the 
literature  of  Italy,  a  partial,  or  perhaps  a  sufficing,  reason  may 
be  found,  in  the  difference  between  countries  like   England 
and  France,  and  one  in  which,   as  there  is  no  single  capital, 
there  are,  comparatively  speaking,  none  of  those  court  in- 
trigues, none  of  those  party  passions,  none  of  those  fashiona- 
ble cabals  and  tribunals,  which  are  called  into  play  and  em- 
ployed in  Paris  and  London,  in  deciding  the  fate  of  authors. 
It  is  not  that  there  are  no  reviews  composed  by  the  personal 
enemies  or  friends  of  the  respective  writers ;  it  is  not  that 
fashion  has  no  voice ;  but  the  injustice  of  criticism,  or  the 
folly  of  a  coterie,  which  may  sway  the  public  opinion  for 
a  while  in  one  of  the  great  cities,  is  inevitably  corrected  be- 
fore it  has  run  through  the  mass  of  disinterested  readers,  and 
travelled  the  wide  circle  of  Venice,  Bologna,  Parma,  Verona, 
Milan,  Turin,  Florence,  Naples,  and  Rome.     The  same  in- 
stances of  undeserved  neglect  and  elevation  may  be  found  in 
each  of  those  towns,  as  are  the  constant  complaint  through- 
out the  vast  extent  of  our  own  country.     But  even  in  any 
single  capital  the  error  is  more  speedily  corrected  by  the 
justice  of  many  rival,  or,  what  is  better,  impartial  neigh- 
bours :  and  as  for  the  whole  of  Italy,   there  cannot  be  an  in- 
stance of  that  rapid  rise,    and  as  sudden  precipitation,   of 
which  we  have  seen  so  many  examples  in  our  times,  and 
which  are  to  be  attributed  solely  to  what  we  call  the  fashion 
of  the  day.     You  do  not  even  hear  the   expressions  usual 
with  us,  applied  to  their  national  writers.     The  favourite  of 
the  to7on  would  be  an  absurd  solecism  in  a  country  where 
there   are  twenty  towns  with  distinct  literary  interests  and 
pretensions,  and  where  the  attachment  of  one  city  secures 
the  opposition  of  another ;  nor.  as  it  has  been  before  men- 


224 

tioned,  can  some  of  the  most  established  authors  be  said  to 
be  most  in  vogue,  for  they  are  certainly  not  the  most  read. 

A  reviewer  may  irritate  the  public  curiosity,  a  lady  of  high 
rank  may  give  a  letter  of  recommendation,  but  neither  the  one 
nor  the  other  can  raise  those  phantoms  of  fashion,  who,  al- 
though they  come  and  depart  like  shadows,  walk  the  whole 
round  of  our  united  kingdoms,  with  all  the  honours  and  at- 
tributes of  substantial  existence. 

If,  then,  we  find  any  living  author  enjoying  very  nearly  the 
same  character  in  all  the  provinces  of  Italy,  we  can  safely 
prognosticate  that  he  has  received  his  final  estimation — that 
the  just  appreciation  of  his  merits  alone  having  raised  him, 
will  prevent  him  from  ever  sinking  into  total  neglect ;  that  he 
has  become  one  of  the  national  writers,  subject,  indeed,  to 
the  fluctuations  which,  as  it  has  been  before  remarked,  affect 
more  especially  the  literature  of  Italy,  but  always  to  be  rank- 
ed amongst  the  classics  of  his  country. 

The  above  circumstance  furnishes  the  foreigner  with  a 
criterion  not  found  in  other  countries :  his  survey  is  facili- 
tated by  being  contracted  to  a  narrower  space  ;  and  when  he 
has  collected  the  judgment  pronounced  upon  a  very  few,  he 
need  not  embarrass  himself  with  the  multitude  of  writers, 
but  be  assured  that  he  has  seized  the  traits  that  are  at  pre- 
sent, and  will  always  be  esteemed,  characteristic  of  the  lite- 
rature of  the  age. — Of  the  writers,  then,  whose  influence 
may  be  more  or  less  discerned  in  the  formation  of  the  pre- 
sent taste  and  style,  it  may  be  sufficient  to  enumerate  six : 
Melchior  Cesarotti,  Joseph  Parini,  Victor  Alfieri,  Hippolitus 
Pindemonte,  Vincent  Monti,  and  Hugo  Foscolo.  The  three 
first  are,  it  is  true,  no  longer  alive,  but  they  clearly  belong  to 
the  present  day,  and  are  no  less  to  be  taken  into  an  actual 
survey  than  their  surviving  cotemporaries.  There  is  nothing 
bold  in  pronouncing  that  these  are  decidedly  the  authors  of 
the  day ;  but  it  is  an  endeavour  of  great  difficulty,  and  no 
little  danger,  to  attempt  to  show  the  specific  reputation  which 
each  of  them  enjoys,  and  to  describe  their  respective  per- 
formances so  as  to  give,  on  the  whole,  the  acknowledged  re- 
sult of  their  effects  upon  the  opinions  of  their  countrymen. 
Such  an  effort  has,  however,  been  made  in  the  following 


225 

sketches  of  these  distinguished  Italians,  and  so  much  of  theii' 
hiography  has  been  added  as  appeared  serviceable  in  illustra- 
ting the  motives  that  inspired,  and  the  occasions  that  called 
forth,  their  various  compositions. 


CESAROTTL 

Melchior  Cesarotti  was  a  Paduan,  and  died,  in  extreme  old 
age,  in  the  year  1808.  Bold,  fruitful,  eloquent,  and  deeply 
versed  in  ancient  and  modem  literature,  this  writer  impressed 
his  readers' with  the  conviction  of  his  genius  :  and  yet,  al- 
though he  resembled  no  one  of  his  predecessors  or  cotempo- 
raries,  there  was  something  more  of  novelty  than  originality 
in  all  his  compositions. 

He  was  brought  up  in  the  ecclesiastical  seminary  of  Padua 
which  prides  itself,  and  with  some  justice,  on  the  constancy 
and  success  with  which  it  has  preserved  the  latinity  of  the 
purer  ages.  Indeed  the  Latin  verses  of  Cesarotti  are  a  proof 
no  less  of  his  talents  than  of  the  merit  of  this  celebrated  insti- 
tution, which,  had  he  continued  to  pursue  the  same  studies, 
would  have  produced  a  new  rival  of  Vida  or  Fracastorius. 
But  he  no  sooner  entered  into  holy  orders  and  quitted  the 
seminary,  than  he  declared  war  against  the  poets  of  antiquity, 
and,  more  especially,  of  Greece.  An  Englishman  passing 
through  Venice,  made  him  acquainted  with  Ossian,  at  that 
time  the  delight,  or  at  least  the  wonder,  of  the  transalpine 
critics :  and  Cesarotti  lost  no  time  in  translating  into  blank 
verse,  accompanying  his  version  with  notes,  for  the  most  part, 
against  Homer.  Ossian  transported  the  Italians,  who  did 
not,  generally  speaking,  embarrass  themselves  with  the  exa- 
mination of  the  authenticity  of  the  pretended  epic.  Palmi- 
eri  of  Placentia,  and  a  few  others,  ventured  to  contest  the 
antiquity  of  the  poet,  but  the  mass  of  readers,  seduced  by  the 
authority  of  Blair,  or  by  their  inclination  to  be  pleased  with 
their  Itahan  Ossian,  were  resolved  to  discover  the  genuine 
son  of  Fingal  in  the  spurious  offspring  of  Macpherson.  Some 
there  were  who  still  defended  the   heroes  of  the  old  school, 


226 

and  exclaimed  against  a  precedent  fatal  to  the  reputation  of 
the  ancient  models,  and  to  the  purity  of  the  modern  lan- 
guage. But  they  read  the  work,  and  they  admired  the  transla- 
tor. His  verses,  in  truth,  are  harmonious,  are  soft,  are  imbued 
with  a  colouring,  and  breathe  an  ardent  spirit,  altogether 
new  ;  and,  with  the  same  materials,  he  has  created  a  poetry 
that  appears  written  in  a  metre  and  a  language  entirely  differ- 
ent from  all  former  specimens.  His  superiority  was  evinced 
by  the  want  of  success  in  those  who  endeavoured  to  imitate 
him,  and  whose  exaggerations  and  caricatures  were  received 
with  a  ridicule  that,  by  little  and  little,  was  attached  to  their 
model,  and  partially  diminished  his  fame.  The  translation 
of  Ossian  will,  however,  be  always  considered  as  an  incon- 
trovertible proof  of  the  genius  of  Cesarotti,  and  of  the  flex- 
ibility of  the  Italian  tongue. 

The  reputation  into  which  he  thus  leapt,  as  it  were,  at 
once,  encouraged  him  to  still  bolder  innovations  ;  and  being 
raised  to  the  Greek  professorship  in  his  own  university  of 
Padua,  he  translated  Demosthenes  and  others  of  the  Greek 
orators,  subjoining  criticisms  full  of  learning  and  ingenuity, 
the  chief  aim  of  which  was  to  convince  the  world  that  the 
veneration  with  which  they  read  those  orators  was  derived 
more  from  their  antiquity  than  their  intrinsic  excellence. 

His  next  work  was  a  translation  of  the  Iliad.  But  the 
magic  of  his  Ossian  was  not  transfused  into  his  Italian 
Homer. 

This  work  is  in  ten  large  octavo  volumes :  each  book  is 
translated  literally  into  Italian  prose,  and  almost  every  pas- 
sage is  illustrated  by  the  compared  opinions  of  the  critics  of 
every  nation,  from  Aristarchus  to  those  of  our  own  days.  He 
invariably  cites  the  adversaries  of  Homer,  and  often  opposes 
them  with  the  partisans  of  the  poet.  When  he  subjoins  his 
own  decision,  it  very  rarely  inclines  to  the  favour  of  his  ori- 
ginal. 

To  every  book  thus  translated  and  commented  upon,  he 
adds  his  own  poetical  version,  which,  as  it  was  intended  to 
Correct  the  errors  discovered  in  the  original,  changes,  omits, 
and  transfers  from  one  book  to  another,  whole  passages  of 
the  text.     These  alterations  were  so  many  and  so  material^ 


227 

that,  in  the  end,  he  resolved  to  change  the  title  of  the  poerii 
and  his  Iliad  reappeared  as  the  "  Dealh  of  Hector.^'' 

The  bold  style,  and  the  harmonious  numbers  of  this  ver- 
sion, procured  for  it  many  readers,  and  the  work  was  ap- 
plauded by  a  public  accustomed  to  admire  the  author.  The 
journalists,  who  in  Italy  are  frequently  without  learning,  and 
almost  always  without  genius,  exalted  the  translation  as  an 
extraordinary  and  successful  effort,  and  the  harmony  of  the 
blank  verse  of  the  Death  of  Hector,  became  in  a  short  time 
proverbial.  But  some  few  literary  men  of  real  merit  and 
discernment,  whose  voice  it  is  much  more  difficult  totally  to 
suppress  in  Italy  than  in  any  other  country,  prognosticated 
that  the  work,  at  some  future  day,  would  be  more  frequently 
cited  than  read.     Their  prophecy  is  now  fully  verified. 

In  his  treatise  on  the  Itahan  language,  Cesarotti  stepped 
forward  to  defend  the  privilege  assumed  by  certain  authors,  of 
enriching,  by  new  words  and  combinations,  their  native  lan- 
guage. His  positions  are  undeniable,  his  observations  pro- 
found, and  his  deductions  exceedingly  just.  The  didactic 
form  of  his  treatise  has  not  deprived  it  of  the  elegance  ne- 
cessary for  the  attraction  of  his  readers.  The  style  is  pre- 
cise, yet  ornamented  :  and  very  few  authors  have  so  happily 
combined  the  language  of  evidence  and  of  metaphysical  dis- 
quisition ;  very  few  have  made  a  grammatical  discussion  so 
alluring,  or  have  arrayed  materials  so  abstruse  in  eloquence  so 
engaging.  This  is  the  only  work  of  Cesarotti's  that  has  pre- 
served its  original  reputation  up  to  this  day.  The  author 
himself  abused,  however,  the  privilege  which  he  claimed 
for  all  writers,  and  in  one  of  the  reviews  then  most  esteemed 
in  Italy,  it  was  asserted  that  the  preacher  of  liberty  had 
awakened  a  spirit  of  licentiousness,  and  yet  might  easily  raise 
himself  to  the  dictatorship.*  The  truth  was,  that  Cesarotti 
was,  by  his  partisans,  regarded  as  infallible,  and  was  the  ter- 
ror of  his  opponents,  whose  censure  was  confined  to  the 
adoption  of  a  practice  contrary  to  his  powerful  example. 

His  prose  is  endowed  with  all  the  qualities  that  constitute  a 

*  "  Predicando  la  liberty  letteraria  aveva  suscitato  la  liccnza  e  per6  gli 
fu  facile  ad  erigcrsi  in  dittatore."  See  Annali  di  scienze  e  lettere,  An. 
ISll.Numero.  iii.  article  on  the  OdiMlflk 


228 

superior  writer.  The  depth  is  no  obstacle  to  the  clearness 
of  his  ideas ;  his  manner  is  free,  his  phraseology  abundant, 
his  periods  are  harmonious.  He  is  Hvely,  yet  graceful ;  he 
is  not  so  copious  as  to  be  tedious,  nor  so  brief  as  to  be  ob- 
scure ;  he  is  full  of  pleasantry,  which  never  degenerates  into 
affectation,  or  is  applied  to  the  purposes  of  malicious  con- 
troversy. But  those  who  were  obliged,  had  they  not  been 
willing,  to  discover  these  excellencies  in  Cesarotti,  were  re- 
lieved from  unqualified  admiration,  by  finding  that  all'  of  them 
were  spoilt  and  rendered  inefficient ;  in  the  first  place,  by 
the  intemperate  and  systematic  use  of  gallicisms ;  and, 
secondly,  by  their  being  lost  upon  discourses  either  critical 
or  metaphysical,- and  such  as  could  not  interest  the  general 
reader.  It  was  in  his  power  to  have  furnished  a  model  of  the 
oratorical  style  in  his  translation  of  Demosthenes ;  but  his 
deliberate  purpose  and  all  his  efforts  in  this  work  were  directed 
to  fritter  down  his  original,  and,  with  this  unaccountable  de- 
sign, he  has  affected  a  style  scrupulously  Cruscan  and  pe- 
dantic. 

His  Familiar  Letters,  published  after  his  death,  have  dis- 
covered to  us  an  excellence  and  a  defect  that  might  not  be  col- 
lected from  his  other  writings  :  for  they  show  him  to  have 
been  an  indulgent  cncourager  of  the  talents  of  others,  as  well 
as  very  liberal  of  his  own  information  ;  but  at  the  same  time 
he  appears  so  over  prodigal  of  his  praises  as  to  incur  the  sus- 
picion of  premedidated  flattery. 

His  conversation  was  distinguished  by  its  eloquence  and  its 
amenity  ;  his  ideas  were  rapid  and  clear,  and  he  gave  a  cer- 
tain grace  and  embellishment  to  the  most  abstruse  arguments. 
He  took  delight  in  the  education  of  those  who  attached  them- 
selves to  his  opinions,  and  were  loyal  to  their  literary  faith, 
more  especially  when  he  discovered  in  them  any  signs  of  fu- 
ture excellence ;  and  although  he  was  far  from  rich,  it  was 
not  unusual  with  him  to  receive  his  pupils  as  his  domestic 
guests.  His  confidence  went  so  far  as  to  intrust  them  with 
his  secrets.  Nevertheless,  notwithstanding  his  kind  patron- 
age, and  their  devoted  attachment,  his  most  constant  disciples 
attained  to  no  reputation  :  either  because  imitation  is,  in  it- 
self, incapable  of  rising  abo^mediocrity,  or  because  there 


229 

was  in  the  system  of  this  great  writer  something  rather  per- 
nicious than  conducive  to  success.  This  circumstance,  so 
painful  for  the  head  of  a  sect,  did  not,  however,  sour  his 
temper,  or  diminish  his  regard.  He  was  the  same  affection- 
ate noble-minded  man  to  the  last,  and  his  friends  had  just  rea- 
son to  praise  him  and  to  lament  his  loss. 

His  political  conduct  was  not  distinguished  for  its  constancy. 
The  revolution  found  him  more  than  a  sexagenary — devoted 
to  literary  pursuits — a  priest — and  one  who  had  never  wan- 
dered beyond  the  narrow  confines  of  his  native  country,  which 
for  more  than  a  century  had  enjoyed  the  most  profound 
calm. 

Buonaparte  had  read  and  re-read  the  Italian  Ossian,  and  at 
his  first  occupation  of  Padua  he  eagerly  sent  for  Cesarotti, 
and  named  him  one  of  the  chiefs  of  the  new  government. 
Our  author  took  that  opportunity  of  publishing  a  small  trea- 
tise on  the  rights  and  freedom  of  mankind,  on  the  duties  of 
the  magistrate,  and  the  character  of  the  people.  Three  or 
four  years  afterwards  the  chances  of  war  brought  him  into  the 
hands  of  the  Russians  and  the  Austrians,  and  he  was  forced, 
if  such  an  expression  may  be  applied  to  such  an  exertion,  to 
compose  a  short  poem  in  praise  of  the  victorious  potentates. 
Finally,  when  Buonaparte  had  become  Emperor,  and  was 
again  master  of  the  Venetian  states,  he  created  Cesarotti  a 
knight  commander  of  one  of  his  orders,  assigning  to  him,  at 
the  same  time,  a  pension,  which  was  meant  to  ensure  his 
gratitude  and  his  praise.  Napoleon  was  not  mistaken  ;  his 
pensioner  published  his  poem,  called  Pronea,  or  Providence, 
a  most  extravagant  performance,  where  the  style  of  Lucan, 
of  Ossian,  and  of  Claudian  bewilders  the  reader,  already 
lost  amidst  the  mazes  of  metaphysics  and  of  theological 
allegory.  The  work,  from  the  first  to  the  last  page,  was  such 
as  might  be  expected  from  a  systematic  innovator,  from  a 
devotee  trembling  on  the  brink  of  the  grave,  and  from  a  poet 
who  wrote  by  commission. 

He  survived  this  effort  too  short  a  time  to  enjoy  his  pension, 
but  not  before  his  poem  had  been  consigned  to  oblivion. 

Had  this  writer  been  born  in  other  times  ;  had  he  expanded 
his  ideas,  and  escaped  from  the  circle  of  his'own  metaphysi- 


230 

cal  speculations,  by  visiting  other  countries  and  mixing  with 
other  minds  ;  had  he  encountered  greater  obstacles  in  his  as- 
cent to  fame  ;  but,  above  all,  had  he  devoted  himself  to 
original  composition,  and  made  a  more  judicious  use  of  his 
acquaintance  with  foreign  literature,  it  is  probable  that 
Cesarotti  would  have  taken  a  prominent  place  amongst  the 
classical  authors  of  his  country.  As  it  is,  the  Italians  accuse 
his  system,  and  accuse  his  example  ;  but  whilst  they  pro- 
nounce both  the  one  and  the  other  to  have  been  highly  pre- 
judicial to  his  native  literature,  they  are  all  willing  to  allow 
that  he  was  possessed  of  great  natural  ability. 

Angelo  Mazza,  the  school-fellow  and  the  friend  of  Cesarotti, 
may  be  fairly  subjoined  to  a  mention  of  that  poet.  He  is 
still  alive,  and  enjoys  a  green  old  age  at  Parma.  His  first 
essay  was  made  in  the  year  1764,  when  he  translated  the 
Pleasures  of  the  Imagination,  and  convinced  the  Italians  that 
the  compressed  style  of  Dante  was  capable  of  being  applied 
to  their  blank  verse,  which  as  yet  was  little  more  than  a 
string  of  sonorous  syllables. 

The  poetry  published  by  him  in  a  maturer  age  consists  in 
great  part  of  lyrical  pieces  on  Harmony,  They  are  to  be 
found  in  two  small  volumes ;  and  Saint  Cecilia  is  the  inspirer 
and  patroness  of  two  of  his  best  odes.  It  was  not  likely  that 
he  should  equal  the  invention  of  Dryden  ;  he  wisely,  there- 
fore, was  contented  with  trying  a  version  of  that  poet,  and 
his  translation  of  that  lyrical  masterpiece  has  the  merit  of 
having  extended  the  fame  of  our  laureate  to  every  corner  of 
Italy. 

The  imitations,  and  even  the  translations  of  Mazza,  have 
a  certain  air  of  originality  impressed  not  only  on  their  style, 
which  is  extremely  energetic,  but  even  on  the  ideas  which 
appear  generally  drawn  from  a  metaphysical  turn  of  mind. 
He  excels  much  in  the  poetical  array  of  abstract  images,  and 
what  the  Theodicea  of  Leibnitz  is  in  prose,  he  sometimes 
contrives  to  execute  in  verse.  In  spite,  however,  of  the  in- 
spired tone  of  some  of  his  verses  on  the  Universe,  and  the 
wisdom  of  the  Creator,  displayed,  according  to  Mazza,  in 
the  harmony  of  all  things,  and  notwithstanding  he  has  re- 
presented this  same  harmony  under  aspects  entirely  new  and 


231 

beautiful,  the  poet  has  failed  no  less  than  all  others  who  have 
attempted  to  embellish  these  sacred  subjects,  in  keeping  alive 
the  interest  of  his  reader,  and  has  succeeded  only  in  attract- 
ing the  admiration  of  those  who  are  delighted  to  see  objections 
encountered  and  difficulties  overcome.  His  odes  are  com- 
posed of  stanzas,  the  melody  of  which  is  often  sacrificed  to 
what  the  musicians  call  contrapunto,  which  is  calculated  to 
surprise  more  than  please,  and  he  has  even  adopted  those 
difficult  rhymes  which  the  Italians  call  sdrucciole,  or  slippery, 
and  which  not  only  lengthen  the  eleven  syllabled  verse  into 
twelve  syllables,  but  change  the  position  of  the  accent,  as 
appears  from  the  following  specimen  extracted  from  the  same 
Mazza : 

A  me  le  voci  di  concento  gravid  e, 
A  me  la  forme  dello  stil  Pindarico, 
Date  a  me  I'ispirata  arpa  di  Davide. 

The  only  work  of  Mazza  which  has  been  often  printed, 
and  has  hit  the  taste  of  the  Italians,  is  a  poem  in  thirty  pages, 
addressed  to  Cesarotti,  in  which  he  gives  a  masterly  sketch 
of  the  great  poets  of  every  nation,  and  has  placed  the  Eng- 
lish on  a  distinguished  eminence  amongst  the  immortal 
brotherhood.  It  is  only  the  women,  who  affect  our  endemic 
melancholy,  and  the  younger  readers,  who  occasion  the  im- 
mense demand  for  Young's  Night  Thoughts,  translated  as  they 
are  into  poor  verse,  or  ampuUated  prose  ;  for  the  more  en- 
lightened Italians  study  Milton  and  Shakspeare. 

Mazza  is  remarkable  for  the  candour  with  which  he  has 
treated  his  cotemporaries,  even  those  attached  to  a  system 
totally  different  from  his  own.  This  discretion,  however, 
has  not  silenced  the  voice  of  criticism,  and  in  spite  of  his 
own  reserve,  his  partisans  and  his  opponents  have  carried  on 
a  war  of  words,  which  is  seldom  to  be  equalled  by  English 
polemics,  and  is  outrageous  even  in  a  country  distinguished 
by  the  pedantry,  the  fury,  and  the  illiberality  of  its  literary 
quarrels.  The  foreigners  who  have  by  turns  usurped  the 
Italian  provinces,  have  extended  their  claims  to  all  the  pro- 
ductions of  that  fruitful  soil :  not  only  the  corn,  and  the  wine, 
and  the  oil  are  put  in  requisition,  but  the  tythe  of  the  poetry 
is  claimed  by  the  conquerors.     Mazza,  in  his  quality  of  per- 


232 

petual  secretary  of  the  academy  of  Parma,  has  composed  th'e 
usual  complimentary  sonnets  for  the  successive  governments 
of  his  country,  but  he  has  cautiously  avoided  all  political 
topics,  and  left  his  opinion  still  uncomprised  and  unknown. 

It  is  generally  reported  that  he  has  long  finished,  although 
he  has  never  ventured  to  publish,  a  translation  of  Pindar. 
The  Itahans  are  impatient,  but  they  are  also  fearful,  for  the 
result.  The  Greek  poet  has  had  many  happy  imitators  in 
this  country,  and  especially  in  the  days  of  Chiabrera,  of  Fili- 
caja,  of  Menzini,  and  of  Guidi ;  but  his  translators  have  failed 
here  no  less  than  in  all  other  countries.  Mazza,  besides  his 
poetical  reputation,  has  the  character  of  a  scholar  profoundly 
versed  in  ancient  and  modern  languages,  and  the  acquisition 
of  the  latter  is  the  more  singular,  as  he  has  never  been  out  of 
Italy,  and  indeed  has  seldom  quitted  his  native  town. 

JOSEPH  PARINI. 

Parini  was  almost  the  only  Italian  poet  of  the  last  century 
who  dared  to  conceive,  and  certainly  he  was  the  only  one 
who  was  capable  of  completing  the  project  of  directing  the 
efforts  of  his  art  towards  the  improvement  of  his  fellow-citi- 
zens. If  by  moralizing  Ms  song,  he  has  failed  to  correct  his 
cotemporaries,  he  has,  however,  acquired  a  reputation  much 
more  valuable  than  can  be  the  share  of  those  whose  talents 
are  devoted  solely  to  the  amusement  of  the  public. 

His  parents  were  peasants  on  the  borders  of  the  lake  Pusi- 
ano,  the  Eupilis  of  Pliny,  about  twenty  miles  to  the  north  of 
Milan.  It  is  usual  in  Italy  to  choose  from  the  poorest  classes 
those  destined  to  supply  the  humblest  and  most  laborious  duties 
in  the  church,  whilst  the  valuable  benefices  are  reserved  for  the 
younger  sons  of  noble  families.  When  one  of  these  children 
of  poverty  shows  signs  of  superior  talent,  the  monks  endea- 
vour to  attach  him  to  their  community,  and  the  charity  of  the 
bishop  provides  him  a  gratuitous  education.  In  this  way 
Parini  was  sent  to  study  in  the  capital  of  Austrian  Lombardy. 
He  applied  to  his  scholastic  pursuits  until  nearly  his  twentieth 
year,  when  his  constitution,  feeble  from  the  beginning,  almost 
fiunk  under  an  attack  which  took  away  the  use  of  his  lower 


233 

limbs,  and  occasioned  his  retreat  from  the  seminary  in  a  con- 
dition that  seemed  to  deprive  him  of  all  hopes  of  aspiring 
even  to  a  country  curacy.  All  that  medical  care,  all  that  time 
could  do  for  the  improvement  of  his  health,  from  his  youth  to 
the  day  of  his  death,  barely  enabled  him  to  crawl  along  by 
the  help  of  a  stick,  or  by  leaning  on  the  arm  of  a  friend. 

Some  of  the  verses  published  in  his  posthumous  works, 
are  painfully  affecting,  from  the  picture  which  they  afford  of 
the  extreme  indigence  in  which  he  languished  even  after  he 
had  arrived  at  years  of  maturity.  His  whole  livelihood,  and 
that  of  an  aged  mother,  were  derived  from  composing  arti- 
cles for  a  newspaper.  He  speaks  thus  in  requesting  an  inti- 
mate friend  to  send  him  relief: 

La  mia  povera  madre  non  ha  pane 
Se  non  da  me,  edio  non  ho  danaro 
Da  mantenerla  almeno  per  donutne.* 

He  had  already  published  some  poetry  which  had  dropt 
after  the  partial  applauses  that  usually  succeed  the  first  essays 
of  every  author,  that  are  not  bad  enough  for  ridicule,  nor 
good  enough  for  envy.  Parini  would  never  allow  these 
specimens  to  be  reprinted.  It  was  not  until  his  thirty-fifth 
year  that  he  published  the  first  canto  of  that  poem,  which 
rendered  him  formidable  to  the  most  powerful  families  around 
him,  and  established  him  in  the  eyes  of  the  literary  world  as 
the  founder  of  a  new  school  in  poetry.  This  poem  is  called 
the  Day  (//  Giorno),  and  is  divided  into  four  cantos — Morning 
(Mattino) ;  Noon  {Meriggiu) ;  Evening  (Vespro) -^  and  Night 
(J^otte) — and  it  Contains  a  satirical  description  of  the  manner 
in  which  the  Italian  nobles  contrive  to  waste  away  the  four 
and  twenty  hours  of  an  existence  for  the  most  part  truly 
despicable.  Before  we  enter  into  an  examination  of  this 
poem,  a  word  or  two  may  be  requisite  on  the  author.  The 
literary  history  of  every  nation  abounds  with  instances  of  the 
distresses  and  ill  success  of  those  endowed  with  the  finest 
abilities  ;  and  it  is  a  painful  truth,  that  the  union  of  the  se- 
verest virtue  with  those  abilities  is  no  shield  against  the  ar- 
rows of  Fortune. 

*  Parini,  Oper.  vol.  iii. 


234 

The  case  of  Parini,  however,  is  not  to  be  confounded  with 
these  examples.  Infirm,  indigent,  without  the  advantage  of 
a  regular  education,  struggling  against  the  obscurity  of  his 
birth,  and  the  disgrace  of  poverty,  he  lived  in  a  city  where 
the  nobles  are  not  only  more  rich,  but  are  perhaps  more 
haughty  and  more  ignorant  than  in  any  other  town  in  Italy. 
At  that  time  they  were  important  from  their  influence,  direct 
and  indirect,  and  formidable  from  the  impunity  with  which 
they  could  give  a  loose  to  their  revenge. 

It  is  universally  known,  that  before  the  revolution  the  Ita- 
lian nobles  enjoyed  a  sort  of  prescriptive  right  of  employing 
assassins ;  but  it  is  more  wonderful  still,  that  at  this  day,  and 
in  the  face  of  the  new  noblesse,  created  by  Buonaparte,  there 
is  not  a  single  instance  of  the  daughter  or  wife  of  any  but 
those  in  possession  of  ancient  titles  being  admitted  to  the 
ball-room  or  drawing-room  of  a  Milanese  Patrician.  The 
same  absurd  distinction  prevails  at  Turin.  At  Venice,  at 
Bologna,  at  Florence,  at  Rome,  the  exclusion  is  not  so  strictly 
observed,  and  a  few  young  females  of  the  middling  ranks  are 
allowed  to,  stand  in  the  same  dance  with  the  daughters  of 
barons  and  of  counts. 

Such  was  the  state  of  society  that  Parini  undertook  to  cor- 
rect. And  this  difficult,  this  dangerous  task  he  adventured 
upon,  by  boldly  reproaching  the  nobles  with  their  vices  and 
their  crimes.  He  raised  his  own  reputation  by  the  depression 
of  a  whole  order,  which,  in  spite  of  their  being  essentially 
more  despicable  than  in  any  other  country  of  Europe,  were, 
owing  to  the  ignorance  and  extreme  poverty  of  the  lower 
classes,  in  fact  more  respectable.  The  care  taken  by  Parini 
to  conceal  his  personal  allusions,  could  not  prevent  the  dis- 
covery that  his  portraits  were  all  drawn  from  living  charac- 
ters ;  and  if  his  originals  recognised  their  likeness  only  now 
and  then,  the  public  were  never  mistaken.  There  was  not  a 
single  Milanese  who  did  not  see,  in  the  chief  personage  ol 
the  poem,  the  Prince  Belgiojoso,  of  the  reigning  family  ol 
Este,  the  eldest  brother  of  the  Field  Marshal  of  the  same 
name,  who  was  Austrian  Ambassador  at  our  court,  and  Go- 
vernor of  the  Low  Countries. 

It  should  be  here  observed,  to  the  honour  of  Parini,  and 


\ 


235 

indeed  of  the  Italian  authors  in  general,  that,  let  a  work  be 
ever  so  much  admired,  it  never  brings  the  writer  money 
enough  to  defray  the  expense  of  the  first  edition.     There  is 
but  a  very  limited  number  of  readers  in  Italy ;  and  though  a 
work  may  receive  from  their  applause  a  character  which  se- 
cures the  esteem  of  the  whole  nation,  a  multitude  of  pur- 
chasers, such  as  we  are  accustomed  to,  is  not  to  be  procured 
by  any  merit,  or  any  accident.     Twelve  hundred  names  to  a 
subscription  are  reckoned  an  extraordinary  instance  of  public 
patronage,  and  it  is  hazardous  to  demand  more  than  three 
francs  (half  a  crown)  for  any  new  production  in  a  single  vo- 
lume under  the  quarto  size.     The  copyright  law  can  hardly 
exist  in  a  country  divided  into  so  many  small  governments, 
and  the  booksellers  find   it  no  difficult  matter  to  elude  the 
prosecutions,  which  must  be  transferred  from  one  state  to 
another  before  they  can  be  brought  before  any  competent 
tribunal.     After  the  revolution,  an  effort  was  made  to  correct 
this  abuse  ;  but  it  was  found  almost  impossible  to  change  the 
practice  of  a  whole  class  of  tradesmen,   long  habituated  to 
consider  all  literary  profits  their  own,  and  to  esteem  every 
mercenary  art  a  fair  branch  of  speculation. 

Those  accustomed  to  the  liberality  of  English  publishers, 
which  aflfords  a  decent  subsistence  to  those  whose  talents  and 
whose  fame  do  not  rise  above  mediocrity,  will  hardly  believe 
that  the  best  authors  in  Italy  think  themselves  fortunate  if 
they  find  a  publisher  to  take  the  expense  of  printing  ofT  their 
hands.  In  that  country  the  booksellers  are  also  printers,  and 
have  it  in  their  power  to  multiply  indefinitely  the  copies  of 
any  edition,  without  accounting  for  the  ac(iruing  profits.  The 
swearing  of  the  printer,  and  our  other  protections  of  literary 
property,  are  unpractised  and  unknown. 

Alfieri,  in  a  sort  of  a  preface,  in  verse,  prefixed  to  the  se- 
cond edition  of  his  tragedies,  complains  that  his  eagerness  for 
renown  has  cost  him  a  portion  of  his  health,  of  his  intellects, 
of  his  peace  of  mind,  and,  above  all,  of  his  fortune ;  the  lat- 
ter having  been  sacrificed  to  the  rapacity  of  the  bookseller. 

Profonder  tuttoin  Hnde  stampe  il  viio, 
E  per  clit  altri  mi  compri,  accattar  io  : 
30 


236 

Soffrire  il  revisor  che  Vuomo  strazia ; 
Appiccicarmi  i  masnadier  libraj 
Che  a  credenza  ricevon  efan  grazia 
♦Ve  metallo  perfoglio  rendon  mai. 

There  were,  however,  certain  coincidences  favourable  to 
the  bold  project  of  Parini.  A  sort  of  colony  of  French  En- 
cyclopedists had  settled  at  Milan,  and  four  or  five  Patricians 
having  taken  to  reading,  dared  also  to  disseminate  in  writing 
the  principles  of  the  approaching  revolution.  The  Marquis 
Beccaria  had  recently  published  his  work  on  Crimes  and  Pun- 
ishments, which  effected  an  important  change  in  the  criminal 
jurisprudence  of  his  own  country,  and  extended  its  beneficial 
influence  to  many  other  nations,  where  torture  prevailed,  and 
was  consequently  abolished.  Joseph  II.  had  himself  began 
those  innovations,  which  ended  by  diminishing  the  prepon- 
derating influence  of  the  Lombard  nobles.  Count  Firmian, 
the  governor  of  those  provinces,  when  questioned  as  to  the 
publication  of  the  poem  of  Parini,  exclaimed,  "  Let  him 
make  haste ;  we  want  it  mightily !" — Qu'tV  se  hate,  nous  en 
avons  une  necessite  extreme. 

In  addition  to  such  a  powerful  ally,  Parini  was  backed  by 
all  the  middling  classes  of  society,  which,  generally  speaking, 
are  certainly  the  most  moral  and  the  most  enlightened  por- 
tion of  civilized  mankind.  Some  individuals  amongst  them 
having  quarrelled  with  the  church-rectors  of  certain  collegiate 
establishments,  found  in  Parini  a  champion  who  overwhelmed 
their  adversaries  with  a  few  strokes  of  his  pen.  Parini  publish- 
ed a  pamphlet  on  that  occasion,  which,  in  the  cooler  hours  of 
revision,  appeared  to  him  too  violent,  and  he  would  not  suffer 
it  to  proceed  to  a  second  edition  :  but  this  work  introduced 
him  to  notice  before  the  publication  of  his  poem,  and  those 
whose  cause  he  had  advocated,  continued  his  friends  to  the 
last  moments  of  his  melancholy  existence. 

The  Day  is  in  one  continued  strain  of  irony,  from  the  first 
line  to  the  last.  The  author  assumes  the  character  of  precep- 
tor to  a  nobleman,  and  teaches  him  how  to  devote  his  morn- 
ing to  the  toilette,  his  noon  to  the  serious  occupations  of  the 
table,  his  afternoon  to  the  public  walks,  and  his  night  to  the 
Conversazioni,  The  most  frivolous  actions,  the  most  contempti- 


237 

ble  vices,  the  most  ridiculous  follies,  and  sometimes  the  most 
atrocious  crimes,  are  detailed  with  minuteness,  and  always 
with  the  pretext  of  recommendation.  The  "  Advice  to  Ser- 
vants" is  carried  into  the  highest  departments  of  society,  and 
a  magnificence  of  diction  and  of  images  is  tastefully  employ- 
ed, instead  of  the  familiar  tone  of  Swift,  to  portray  the  lux- 
ury and  the  pride  which  the  Italian  nobility  carefully  wrap 
round  the  naked  wretchedness  of  their  hearts. 

The  variety  of  the  objects,  and  the  numerous  portraits  of 
individuals,  all  in  the  higher  classes  of  every  age  arid  sex, 
engage  the  attention,  whilst  the  faithful  and  fine-spun  descrip- 
tion of  manners  keeps  alive  the  curiosity  of  the  reader. 
The  poet  has  shown  no  little  address  in  contrasting  the  ef- 
feminacy of  the  actual  race  of  nobles,  and  the  industry  and 
the  courage  of  their  ancestors,  who,  in  the  middle  ages,  re- 
stored the  civilization  of  the  South,  and,  with  unshaken  con- 
stancy, defended  the  hberties  of  the  Italian  republics.  This 
contrast  naturally  transported  Parini  to  the  days  of  Romance; 
and  the  wild  life  of  the  military  patricians,  the  old  castles, 
and  the  glittering  arms  of  the  half  barbarous  ages,  were  a 
happy  reHef  for  the  silken  barons,  the  palaces,  and  the  em- 
broidered suits  of  his  cotemporaries,  whom  it  was  necessary 
to  amuse  in  order  to  instruct.  The  ruins  of  dungeons  and 
towers  neglected  by  the  heirs  of  those  who  raised  them,  en- 
abled the  poet  to  employ  his  fancy  in  restoring  them  to  their 
ancient  splendour,  and  he  thus  threw  in  those  sombre  shades 
and  colourings  which  the  Germans  afterwards  appropriated  to 
themselves,  and  were  believed  to  have  formed  a  new  and  na- 
tional school  of  poetic  fiction. 

With  this  mixture  of  romance  Parini  also  recurred  to  the 
characters  and  allegories  of  the  old  mythology,  the  favourite 
resource  of  the  Italians,  who  still  think  it  the  only  fabulous 
system  whose  images  combine  the  truth  of  real  nature  with 
the  charms  of  ideal  grace.  But  even  in  this  department  of 
his  art,  which  an  Englishman  would  abandon  as  hopeless,  our 
author  contrived  to  give  an  air  of  reality  to  his  classical  fables, 
by  applying  them  to  the  practices  and  principles  of  his  own 
times.  Thus  it  is  that  his  Cupid  and  Hymen  are  introduced. 
They  are  engaged  in  a  war  to  all  appearance  interminable. 


238 

hut  they  agree  to  treat,  and  peace  is  made  on  condition  that 
Cupid  shall  reign  all  day,  and  Hymen  all  night.  An  English 
reader  would  not  be  much  struck  with  this  invention;  but  who- 
ever meets  a  handsome  Italian  matron,  decently  pacing  be- 
tween her  husband  and  her  Cavalier  Servente,  will  instantly 
remember  the  Love  and  Hymen  of  Parini,  and  the  graceful 
solemn  air  with  which  his  verses  march  majestically  along. 

Our  own  nation  can  hardly  have  a  just  idea  of  this  species 
of  poetry.  The  Italians  who  admire  it  the  most  compare  it 
to  the  Georgics  ;  and  the  Giorno  has  certainly  more  than  one 
property  in  common  with  the  poem  of  Virgil.  Both  the  one  and 
the  other  are  employed  in  dignifying  topics  essentially  common 
and  familiar.  Both  one  and  the  other  display  their  poetical  vi- 
gour in  frequent  episodes  ;  and  the  Italian  perhaps  has  gone  less 
Out  of  his  way  for  those  embellishments  than  the  Latin  poet. 
It  was  the  misfortune,  not  the  fault,  of  Parini,  that  he  could 
not  employ  the  hexametral  structure ;  and  owing,  partly  to 
the  same  defect  of  language,  and  partly,  perhaps,  to  real  in- 
feriority, he  was  not  able  to  adorn  every  picture  with  those 
images,  nor  lend  to  every  word  that  harmony,  which  are  the 
constituent  excellence  of  Virgil.  If  Parini's  style  does  not 
rival  that  of  Virgil,  it  is  some  comfort  fo*-  the  Italians  to 
think,  that  their  poet  has  approached  that  great  master  nearer 
than  any  other  follower. 

" longo  sed  proximus  intervallo." 


His  countrymen  are,  besides,  hardy  enough  to  suppose,  that 
in  the  grouping,  in  the  invention,  in  the  connexion  of  all 
the  parts  with  the  whole,  the  pictures  of  the  Giorno  are  supe- 
rior to  those  of  the  Georgics.  It  is  not,  certainly,  too  ha- 
zardous to  assert,  that  no  one  can  learn  farming  from  the 
verses  of  Virgil,  but  that  much  instruction  may  be  gained  by 
avoiding  the  follies  which  characterize  the  hero  of  Parini. 
If  the  Sopha  of  Cowper  were  a  little  more  varied,  and  tinc- 
tured with  satire,  it  would,  in  the  dom^-stic  details,  and  the 
easy  flowing  versification,  be  a  tolerable  counterpart  of  the 
Gjorno — at  least  we  cannot  furnish  a  stronger  resemblance. 

The  versification   of  Parini  is   not  altogether  unlike  the 
Latin,  and  is  entirely  different  from  that  of  the  other  authors 


239 

who  in  this  age  particularly  distinguished  themselves  by  try- 
ing every  variety  with  which  they  could  rival  each  other, 
and  improve  the  structure  of  Italian  verse.  This  has  been 
already  remarked  in  the  articles  on  Cesarotti  and  Mazza,  and 
the  same  truth  will  be  deduced  from  the  subsequent  notices 
of  this  essay.  The  imagery,  the  expressions,  the  numbers, 
the  very  words  of  Parini,  have  a  certain  solemnity  which 
they  never  altogether  lay  aside  ;  and  the  melody  and  change 
of  tone  so  conspicuous  in  the  soft  and  varied  descriptions  of 
the  Greek  and  Latin  epics,  arc,  in  the  verses  of  the  Italian 
poet,  not  so  much  recognised  at  once,  as  they  are  imper- 
ceptibly felt  by  the  reader. 

It  may  be  sufficient  to  give  a  short  example  of  the  distinc- 
tion here  alluded  to.  The  poet  conducts  his  hero  to  the 
public  walks :  the  time  chosen  is  the  night-fall :  he  leaves 
his  mistress  alone  in  her  carriage,  and  slipping  through  the 
crowd,  steals  quietly  into  the  carriage  of  another  lady,  who 
has  also  been  abandoned  by  her  Cavalier.  Such  a  scene  re- 
quired some  delicacy  to  portray.  A  loose  or  a  careless  poet 
would  hardly  steer  clear  of  indecent  images :  but  Parini  is 
not  less  adroit  with  his  carriage  and  his  night,  than  is  Virgil 
with  the  cave  and  the  storm,  that  were  so  fatal  to  the  hap- 
piness of  Dido.  He  invokes  the  goddess  of  Darkness  with 
his  usual  irony,  and  prays  her  to  arrest  her  progress,  that  he 
may  contemplate  at  leisure  the  exploits  of  his  chosen  hero. 

" Ma  la  Notte  segue 

Sue  leggi  inviolabili,  e  declina 

Con  tacit'  ombra  sopra  1'  emispero ; 

E  il  rugiadoso  pife  lenta  movendo, 

Rimpscola  i  color  varj,  infiniti, 

E  via  gli  sgombra  con  1'  immense  lembo 

Di  cosa  in  cosa :  e  suora  de  la  moite 

Un  aspetto  indistinto,  un  solo  volto, 

Al  suolo  a  i  vegetanti  a  gli  animali 

A  i  grandi  ed  a  la  plebe  equa  permette  ; 

E  i  nudi  insieme  e  li  dipinti  visi 

Delle  belle  confonde,  e  i  cenci,  e  1'  oro : 

Ne  veder  mi  concede  all'  aer  cieco 

Qual  de  cocchj  si  parta  o  qual  rimanga 

Solo  air  ombre  segrete :  e  a  me  di  mano 

Tolto  il  pcnello,  il  mio  Signore  avvolge 

Per  entro  al  tenebroso  umido  velo." 


240 

Nevertheless  it  is  evident  that  this  kind  of  poetry,  beauti- 
ful as  it  is,  and  recalling  to  us  some  of  the  most  delicate  pas- 
sages of  the  Rape  of  the  Lock,  is  addressed  rather  to  the  ima- 
gination than  to  the  heart.  Yet  Parini  has  occasionally 
proved  himself  a  master  of  the  pathetic,  and  he  calls  forth 
tears  of  regret  when  he  shows  us  a  servant,  after  twenty 
years  of  faithful  attachment,  dismissed,  persecuted,  and  re- 
duced to  beggary,  for  no  other  offence  than  slightly  beating 
a  favourite  dog  that  had  bit  him.  We  may  be  here  reminded 
of  some  of  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Crabbe,  when  he  is  most  harmo- 
nious and  most  tender :  but  the  Italian  awakes,  by  the  same 
picture,  feelings  more  allied  to  indignation  than  to  pity,  and 
his  sleepless  irony  somewhat  fatigues  the  attention,  and  helps 
to  counteract  the  general  effect.  The  perpetual  aggrandize- 
ment and  decoration  of  objects,  in  themselves  little  and  mean, 
display  a  curious  felicity,  and  succeed  in  exciting  the  pro- 
posed ridicule  ;  but  the  effect  diminishes  as  the  effort  is  con- 
tinued, and  concludes  in  being  mistaken  for  affectation.  A 
single  pebble  set  tastefully  in  diamonds  may  amuse  the  spec- 
tator, but  a  whole  cabinet  of  such  curiosities  would  hardly  be 
worth  attention  or  examination. 

Another  deficiency  will  be  apparent  to  the  foreign  reader 
of  Parini.  The  poet  never  saw  any  other  city  than  Milan. 
His  infirmities  and  his  poverty  confined  him  entirely  at  home. 
It  was  thus  impossible  that  he  should  not  give  too  much  im- 
portance to  objects  which  those  accustomed  to  a  wider  sphere 
of  action  would  consider  unworthy  of  regard.  It  was  natural, 
also,  for  the  same  reason,  that  his  style,  formed  altogether  on 
the  classical  writers,  should  occasionally  degenerate  into  pe- 
dantry. What  could  be  performed  by  an  exquisite  and  cul- 
tivated taste  has  been  done  by  Parini,  but  he  is  not  to  be 
classed  with  the  inspired  poets.  The  great  defect  of  the 
Giorno  is  the  little  interest  excited  by  the  hero  of  the  poem, 
who  is  contemptible  from  his  entrance  to  his  exit.  Yet  even 
this  capital  objection  seldom  occurs  to  those  absorbed  in  ad- 
miration at  the  effect  produced  by  the  address  and  execution 
of  the  author. 

The  great  merit  of  Parini  lies  in  the  dignity,  not  only  of  his 
style,  but  of  his  conduct  in  wielding  the  weapons  of  satire. — 


241 

His  poem  has  nothing  of  that  impotent  rage  against  the  pow, 
erful,  of  that  invidious  detraction  of  the  wealthy,  of  that  plain- 
tive accusation  against  patronage  and  ingratitude,  which  have 
been  the  favourite  topics  of  all  satirists,  from  Horace  to  the 
Enghsh  Imitator  of  Juvenal.  The  vices  of  the  great  he  con- 
templates with  a  pity  worthy  the  noblest  of  their  own  order; 
he  does  not  indulge  himself  with  epigrams  ;  he  never  degene- 
rates into  obscenity ;  he  will  not  condescend  to  be  the  buf- 
foon, nor  to  administer  to  the  bad  passions  of  the  multitude. 

There  is  a  grandeur  in  the  expression  of  his  censures  which 
casts,  as  it  were,  a  shield  between  those  whom  he  condemns, 
and  the  anger  and  hatred  of  the  people.  He  respects  human 
nature ;  he  is  not  misanthropic ;  and  he  takes  care  to  attri- 
bute the  depravity  of  the  nobles  to  their  total  idleness. — 
Throughout  his  whole  satire  he  shows  himself  bent  upon  the 
generous  project  of  repairing  the  disgrace  of  his  country,  and 
never  incurs  the  suspicion  that  he  would  only  satisfy  his  pri- 
vate animosities. 

Soon  after  the  appearance  of  this  poem,  all  those  of  easy 
circumstances  in  the  middle  classes,^  and  the  few  patricians 
who,  being  addicted  to  literary  pursuits,  were  the  natural  op- 
ponents of  the  great  body  of  the  nobles,  interested  themselves 
with  the  Austrian  government  in  providing  for  Parini.  They 
persuaded  that  government  to  found  a  professorship  of  elo- 
quence expressly  for  their  favourite,  who  justified  the  high  ex- 
pectations entertained  of  him;  and,  by  his  efforts  in  his  new 
capacity,  gave  a  stability  to  his  rising  reputation.  He  was 
indeed  by  nature  qualified  more  than  any  one,  perhaps,  of  his 
cotemporaries,  to  give  lessons  on  the  belles  lettres,  and  to  per- 
form that  task  in  a  way  totally  different  from  that  usually  em- 
ployed in  the  Italian  schools.  There  was  a  gravity,  and  at 
the  same  time  an  ease,  in  his  eloquence,  which  enabled  him 
to  cite  the  examples  of  former  great  writers  with  a  powerful 
effect,  and  to  illustrate  them  with  new  and  brilliant  observa- 
tions. He  applied  the  various  theories  of  the  sublime  and 
beautiful  not  only  to  the  productions  of  the  pen,  but  to  all 
the  creations  of  nature ;  and  many  of  his  cotemporaries,  al- 
ready in  possession  of  literary  renown,  were  not  ashamed  to 
put  themselves  to  the  school  of  Parini.     Those  persons,  and 


212 

readers  in  general,  were  perhaps  surprised  to  find,  vrhen  they 
came  to  peruse  his  dissertations  in  print,  that  the  ideas,  al- 
though just,  were  seldom  very  profound  :  that  a  clear  method, 
a  chaste  style,  and  an  ingenious  view  of  the  subject,  were 
their  chief  merit ;  but  that  the  flow  of  words,  the  soul,  the  fire 
of  expression  and  sentiment,  had  vanished  with  the  delivery, 
and  that  the  genius,  and  even  the  polished  correctness  of  the 
poet,  were  not  to  be  recognised  in  the  discourses  of  the  rheto- 
rician. 

Parini  was  so  painfully  scrupulous,  and  at  the  same  time  so 
idle  a  writer,  that  he  never  published  more  than  the  two  first 
cantos  of  his  poem,  the  whole  of  which  does  not  amount  to 
four  thousand  lines.  The  two  last  cantos  were  published 
after  his  death,  and  they  contain  several  half-finished  verses,  a 
great  many  variations,  and  two  large  chasms,  which  a  long  life 
was,  it  seems,  too  short  to  enable  him  to  fill  up  to  his  satisfac- 
tion. This  severity  of  taste  he  applied  to  others  as  well  as  to 
himself;  and  it  was  his  favourite  expression,  when  speaking 
even  of  Virgil  and  Horace,  "  fVe  should  study  them  in  those 
passages  where  they  are  i^t  inortal  men  like  ourselves^  From 
such  a  master  the  youth  of  Milan  imbibed  a  delicacy  of  taste 
bordering  upon  affectation,  and  these  scruples  were  easily 
cherished  in  a  people  less  given  to  poetry  than  any  other  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Italy.  Indeed  Parini  himself  is  the  only  dis- 
tinguished poet  that  this  city  has  produced  from  the  revival  of 
letters  to  the  present  day. 

In  addition  to  this  individual  propensity,  it  may  be  remark- 
ed, that  a  severity  of  judgment  prevails  more  or  less  with  all 
the  Italians,  who  are,  as  it  were,  saturated  with  poetry,  and 
are  besides  accustomed  to  disregard  the  matter  in  comparison 
with  the  manner  of  metrical  expression — a  feeling  deducible 
from  the  surpassing  variety  and  beauty  and  strength  of  their 
language.  Add  to  this,  that  they  judge  all  modern  composi- 
tions with  a  reference  to  their  most  ancient  poets,  whom  they 
worship  with  a  veneration  almost  superstitious. 

Parini  was  not  remarkable  for  his  erudition,  and  knew  but 
very  little  Greek.  He  could  not  write  Latin,  but  he  felt  all 
the  beauties  of  the  Roman  writers,  and  made  them  percepti- 
ble  to   his   audience.     His   favourite    Italian   studies  were 


243 

Dante,  Ariosto,  and  the  Aminta  of  Tasso ;  yet  he  imitated 
none  of  these  great  writers;  and  it  may  be  said  of  him  as  of 
our  own  Swift,  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  point  out  a  single 
idea  that  he  has  borrowed  from  his  predecessors.  He  may  be 
called  an  imitator,  inasmuch  as  he  sedulously  traced  back  to 
their  great  constituent  causes  the  effects  produced  by  the  old 
writers,  and  then  made  use  of  his  discovery  ;  but  his  manner 
is  altogether  his  own ;  is  inspired  by  his  own  genius,  and  at- 
tempered by  his  own  inexorable  taste.  He  followed  the  rule 
of  Horace,  which  inculcates  the  sacrifice  of  every  thought, 
however  noble,  which  is  found  incapable  of  embellishment ; 
and  he  renounced  the  adoption  of  those  beauties,  which  vulgar 
readers  are  apt  to  call  natural,  but  which  in  fart  are  obvious 
and  common-place. 

Treatises  upon  the  fine  arts,  and  more  particularly  the  lives 
of  celebrated  artists,  were  his  favourite  and  constant  study. 
Amongst  the  few  books  which  he  possessed  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  his  executors  found  two  copies  of  VasarPs  Biography. 
both  of  them  worn  away  by  repeated  perusal.  He  never  ap- 
plied either  to  drawing  or  to  music,  but  he  was  perfectly  well 
acquainted  with  the  theory,  and  sensible  to  the  charms,  of 
both,  and  the  most  celebrated  professors  had  frequent  re- 
course to  his  advice.  His  posthumous  works  furnish  us  with 
the  ideas,  the  composition,  and  even  the  details  of  several 
pictures  which  he  had  communicated  to  distinguished  artists, 
and  which  are  now  to  be  seen,  faithfully  executed  according 
to  his  directions,  in  many  of  the  palaces  at  Milan.  Parini 
employed,  indeed,  his  whole  hfe  in  carrying  into  practice  the 
maxim  ihdX  poetry  should  he  painting  ^  for,  with  the  exception 
of  Dante,  the  other  Italian  poets  have  only  occasional  pic- 
tures :  all  the  rest  is  but  description.  Parini  effected  by  dint 
of  meditation  that  which  was  the  natural  production  of  the 
wonderful  genius  of  Dante,  and  it  would  be  diiiicult  to  point 
out  ten  consecutive  lines  in  the  poem  of  the  Milanese  from 
which  a  painter  might  not  extract  a  complete  picture,  with  all 
the  requisite  varieties  of  attitude  and  expression. 

Parini  also  published  in  his  lifetime  about  twenty  odes,  of 
which  the  Italians  covi?,\ Aer  four  as  inimitable,  six  or  seven  of 
the  others  tolerable,  and  the  remainder  absolutely  bad.     The 

31 


244 

whole  of  them  bear  a  nearer  resemblance  to  those  of"  Horace 
than  of  Pindar,  but  neither  of  them  has  a  shadow  of  likeness 
with  the  lyric  poetry  of  Petrarch,  or  of  Chiabrera,  or  of  Guidi. 
Not  only  the  style,  but  even  the  language  appears  quite  differ- 
ent. It  is  his  constant  practice  here,  as  in  the  Giorno,  to 
avoid  detailed  descriptions,  and  to  throw  out  his  images  in 
mass  and  at  one  stroke  of  his  pencil.  He  has  also  the  same 
object  in  view;  namely,  the  correction  of  national  manners. 

The  ode  addressed  to  a  young  woman  of  eighteen,  who  had 
adopted  the  Parisian  fashion,  then  called  "  robe  a  la  guillo- 
tine,'''' is  written  in  a  style  more  than  usually  intelligible  for  a 
foreign  reader.  The  beauty  and  the  innocence  of  the  maiden 
are  presented  under  colours  <^hat  contrast  admirably  with  the 
depravity  of  mind  and  manners  which  the  poet  foresees  must 
be  the  consequence  of  imitating  so  vile  an  example. 

"  Da  scellerata  scure 
Tolto  h  quel  nome ;  infamia 
Del  secolo  spietato 
E  die  funesti  augurii 
Al  femminile  ornato 

E  con  le  truci  Eumenidi 
Le  care  Grazie  avvinse 

E  di  crudele  immagine 
La  tua  bellezza  tinse. 

He  digresses  to  the  history  of  the  ancient  Roman  females, 
from  the  earliest  times  to  those  days  of  cruelty  and  corruption 
when  they  thronged  the  gladiatorial  shows,  and  a  Vestal  gave 
the  signal  for  the  slaughter. 

Potfe  all'  alte  patrizic 
Come  alia  plebe  oscura 
Giocoso  dar  solletico 
La  soffrente  natura. 

Che  piii  ?  Baccanti  e  cupide 
D'abbomminando  aspetto 
Sol  dair  uman  pericolo 
Acuto  ebber  diletto, 

E  da  i  gradi  e  da  i  circoli 
Co'  moti  e  con  le  voci 
Di  gia  maschili,  applausero 
A  i  duellanti  atroci : 


245 

Creando  a  sft  delizia 
.. ,  E  de  le  membra  sparte, 

E  de  gli  estremi  aneliti, 
E  del  morir  con  arte. 

The  poet  has  contrived  that  the  progress  of  his  ideas  shall 
correspond  with  the  gradual  corruption  with  which  the  impru- 
dent imitation  of  novelty  seduces  by  little  and  little  the  incau- 
tious female  into  the  worst  practices  of  debauchery. 

The  biographer  of  Parini,  who  has  furnished  the  greater 
portion  of  the  preceding  account,  has  been  accused  of  swell- 
ing out  the  works  of  his  author  into  six  volumes,  although 
those  published  during  his  lifetime  scarcely  occupy  two  hun- 
dred pages.* 

It  may  be  added,  that  of  all  the  posthumous  works,  the  two 
last  cantos  of  his  Giorno  is  the  only  one  which  deserved  to  be 
rescued  from  that  obscurity  to  which  they  had  been  consigned 
by  their  scrupulous  author. 

Not  that  they  are  deficient  in  affording  instruction  to  those 
who  delight  in  the  study  of  human  nature,  and  love  to  watch 
the  developement  of  the  mind.  The  odes  which  are  reckon- 
ed Parini's  best  were  composed  in  his  old  age ;  and  such  of 
the  verses  as  appear  in  their  first  form,  and  as  were  not  in- 
tended for  publication,  are  remarkable  chiefly  for  their  good 
sense,  and  for  their  unaffected  taste.  But  their  imagery  is 
not  abundant ;  their  style  has  little  warmth,  and  the  turns  are 
commpn-place  and  trite.  They  enable  us  then  to  form  some 
conception  of  the  time  and  thought  employed  in  the  elevation 
and  constant  support  of  a  style  which  frequently  borders  upon 
sublimity.  His  commerce  with  mankind  laid  open  to  him  the 
most  secret  recesses  of  the  heart,  and  furnished  him  with  that 
acquaintance  with  our  natural  foibles  of  which  he  discovers 
so  intimate  a  knowledge  in  his  principal  poem,  and  in  his 
odes.  In  the  same  manner  his  continued  and  minute  con- 
templation of  nature  in  all  her  varieties  furnished  him  with 
the  beauties  necessary  for  his  poetical  purposes,  and  enabled 
him  to  recognise  their  recurrence  in  the  old  classical  writers, 
and  to  demonstrate  their  existence  to  others. 

*  See — Opere  di  Giuseppe  Parini,  publicate  ed  illustrate  da  Francesco 
Reina,  vol.  vi.  in  8vo.  Milano,  1801. 


246 

The  result  of  study  and  cultivation  was  never  more  con- 
spicuous than  in  the  example  of  Parini.  It  had  all  the  ap- 
pearance, and  produced  all  the  effects  of  genius  :  and  yet  his 
was,  doubtless,  one  of  those  minds  rather  capable  of  culture, 
than  naturally  fruitful.  The  soil  might  have  brought  forth 
none  but  barren  plants,  had  not  care,  and  labour,  and  pa- 
tience, qualified  it  to  receive  the  seed,  and  supply  the  nou- 
rishment of  the  richest  productions. 

The  Milanese  nobles  did  not  dare  to  revenge  themselves 
openly  for  the  boldness  of  Parini.  There  is  a  story  current 
of  an  attempt  to  assassinate  him,  but  this,  perhaps,  is  an  in- 
vention suggested  by  the  ancient  manners  of  Italy.  His 
enemies  took  another  course.  The  emoluments  of  his  pro- 
fessorship amounted  only  to  3000  francs,  a  little  more  than 
one  hundred  pounds  a  year. 

Leopold  II.,  on  a  visit  to  Milan,  was  struck  with  the  phy- 
siognomy of  an  old  man,  lame,  and  moving  slowly  along,  hut 
with  an  air  of  dignity.  He  asked  his  name,  and  being  told 
that  it  was  Parini,  ordered  the  municipal  council  to  increase 
his  pension  sufficiently  to  enable  him  to  keep  a  small  carriage. 
But  the  verbal  command  of  a  foreign  monarch  is  seldom 
strictly  obeyed  in  distant  provinces,  where  the  nobles  have 
an  interest  or  a  will  distinct  from  their  duty.  Parini  con- 
tinued without  any  other  prop  than  his  stick.  The  poet 
whom  the  Milanese  pointed  out  to  strangers  as  the  pride  and 
glory  of  their  city,  was  often  pushed  into  the  dirt,  and  was 
repeatedly  near  being  run  over  by  the  carriages,  in  streets 
where  there  is  no  pavement  for  foot  passengers. 

In  an  ode,  which  he  calls  the  Caduta,  the  Fall,  he  describes 
the  accidents  which  happened  to  him  in  rainy  and  foggy 
days  ;  and  although  this  production  is  not  in  the  first  rank  of 
his  poetry,  it  can  never  be  perused  without  delight,  nor  be 
quoted  without  exciting  our  admiration  at  the  profound  pathos, 
the  honest  pride,  and  the  philosophy  with  which  it  abounds. 

The  French,  on  their  arrival  in  Italy,  soon  understood  the 
active  part  which  the  literary  classes  had  played  in  the  revo- 
lution. They  employed  many  of  these  individuals,  and 
amongst  others  Parini,  who  found  himself  all  at  once  amongst 
the  chiefs   of   the    republican  government,    with  no  other 


247 

qualification  or  capital  for  such  an  elevation,  than  what  was 
derived  from  a  love  of  liberty,  a  habit  of  speaking  the  truth, 
an  unbending  character,  and  a  total  disregard  of  all  selfish  in- 
terests.    He  felt  the  embarrassment  of  his  situation,  and  hav- 
ing often  spoken  harshly  to  the  French  generals,  it  was  not 
difficult  for  him  to  obtain  permission  to  retire,  after  a  few 
weeks  of  thankless  employment.     His  name  and  his  integrity 
commanded   respect,  and   the   opposition   of   a  whole   life 
against  the   nobles,  made  him  regarded  by    all  the  lower 
classes  as  the  great  partisan  of  the  democracy.     This  influ- 
ence was  not  lost  even  when  he  opposed  the  follies  of  the 
populace.     They  still  show  a  square  at  Milan,  opposite  to  the 
great  theatre,  which  was  one  day  filled  by  a  large  mob  of  idle 
fellows,  who  ran  about  crying,  "  Long  life  to  the  Republic — 
death  to  the  Aristocrats  /"  Parini  issued  from  a  coffee-house 
and  exclaimed,  "  Viva  la  Republica — e  morte  a  nessuno  ;  Ca- 
naglia  stolta  /"     The  crowd  ^instantly  dispersed.     Whatever 
may  be  the  honours  acquired  by  poetry  in  England,  we  cannot 
form  an  idea  of  the  influence  enjoyed  by  a  man  who  has  ob- 
tained a  great  literary  reputation  in  a  country  where  the 
largest  portion  of  the  people  cannot  read.     He  is  listened  to 
with  a  sort  of  religious  obedience. 

The  circles  at  Milan  were  afraid  of  every  word  that  might 
drop  from  Parini,  and  he  now  and  then  abused  his  acknow- 
ledged ascendancy.  But  his  intolerance  never  extended  to 
his  friends :  with  them  he  was  indulgent  to  the  last  degree, 
and  his  severity  was  laid  aside  for  a  sort  of  infantine  joviality. 
He  was  pleased  with  the  company  of  those  young  people  who 
were  distinguished  by  the  fire,  the  frankness,  and  t^e  etourde- 
rie  of  their  age  :  but  he  was  incensed  somewhat  extravagant- 
ly against  those  who  either  affected,  or  were  naturally  in- 
clined to,  gravity.  He  was  complaisant  and  affable  to 
strangers  who  came,  even  without  introduction,  to  visit  him ; 
but  if  they  unfortunately  ventured  to  praise  him,  they  did  not 
escape  without  a  reprimand,  and  found  his  door  shut  against 
them  ever  afterwards. 

His  philosophy,  strengthened  as  it  was  by  the  useful  alliance 
of  disease  and  age,  did  not,  however,  defend  him  against  the 
attacks  of  love ;  and  the  odes  written  towards  the  end  of  his 


248 

life,  are  sufficient  proof  that  he  never  looked  upon  female 
charms  with  impunity.  He  confesses  this  truth,  and  perhaps 
has  adopted  the  safest  course  to  avoid  ridicule,  by  declaring 
openly,  that  his  good  genius,  which  had  preserved  him  from 
the  tortures  of  ambition  and  avarice,  had  still  left  him  accessi- 
ble to  the  soft  torment  of  the  most  tender  and  most  disin- 
terested of  all  the  passions.* 

Those  high-born  dames  who  were  often  the  objects  of  his 
affection  and  of  his  poetry,  were  much  flattered  by  his  pre- 
ference, and  forgave  him  all  that  he  had  said  of  their  hus- 
bands and  of  their  Cavalieri  Serventi.  With  these  he  never 
made  peace.  And  although  he  was  an  inmate  in  many  great 
houses,  he  staid  not  a  moment  after  he  saw  that  he  was  re- 
quired to  submit  to  condescensions  incompatible  with  his 
principles,  and  unbecoming  his  character.  After  all  that  has 
been  said  of  the  liberality  of  the  great,  it  is  clear  that  the 
precedence  granted  to  genius  does  not  commence  during  the 
lifetime  even  of  the  most  fortunate  writer.  It  was  by  a  noble 
perseverance  that  Parini,  indigent,  unknown,  imperfect,  and 
perpetually  boasting  of  his  paternal  plough,  succeeded  so  far 
as  to  make  himself  respected  by  those  powerful  classes  whose 
vices  he  decried  ;  and  maintained  the  dignity  of  his  character 
and  calling  in  a  country  where  flattery,  common  as  it  is  else- 
where, is  found  more  base  and  abject  amongst  the  men  of 
letters  than  in  the  other  orders,  where  the  poets  are  very 
often  the  buffoons  of  their  society,  and  where  the  tutors  of 
boys  of  rank  are  confounded  with  the  domestics  of  the 
family.  At  the  time  that  almost  all  the  Italian  rhymesters., 
an  innumerable  class,  were  dedicating  their  canzoni  and  their 
sonnets  to  their  respective  patrons,  Parini  refused  to  recite  a 
single  verse  at  the  table  of  any  great  man.t 

He  is  to  be  exactly  recognised  in  the  portrait  which  he  has 
given  of  himself. 

"  Me,  non  nato  a  percotere 
Le  dure  illustri  porte, 
Nudo  accorra,  ma  libero, 
II  Regno  della  morte.t" 

*  See  the  two  most  celebrated  odes,  II  Messag^o,  and  II  Pericolo. 
f  See  the  ode  entitled  La  Recita  d€  Vtrsi. 
I  See  his  ode  La  Vita  Rustica. 


249  *- 

He  preserved  his  dignity  and  his  poverty,  the  strength  of  his 
mind  and  the  powers  of  his  genius,  to  his  seventieth  year. 
He  had  been  employed  a  few  days  in  projecting  some  verses,* 
and  one  morning  he  dedicated  them  to  a  friend.  Having  read 
them  over,  he  said  that  he  was  satisfied  with  them,  and 
begged  his  friend  to  get  them  printed.  He  then  retired  into 
his  bedchamber,  and,  in  half  an  hour  afterwards,  expired. 

VICTOR  ALFIERI. 

The  life  of  this  author  has  been  written  by  himself.  His 
tragedies  have  been  criticised  in  every  European  language. 
There  still  remain  some  notices  on  his  death,  and  some 
opinions  on  his  other  works,  which  may  be  new  to  the  English 
reader. 

His  connexion  with  the  Countess  of  Albany  is  known  to  all 
the  world,  but  no  one  is  acquainted  with  the  secret  of  that 
long  intercourse.  If  they  were  ever  married,  Alfieri  and  the 
Countess  took  as  much  pains  to  conceal  that  fact,  as  is  usually 
bestowed  upon  its  publicity.  Truth  might  have  been  spoken 
on  the  tomb  of  the  poet,  but  even  there  we  only  find  that 
Louisa,  Countess  of  Albany,  was  his  onli/  love — "  quam  unice 
dilexit" — A  church,  perhaps,  was  not  the  place  to  boast  of 
such  a  passion ;  but  after  every  consideration  we  may  con- 
clude, that  the  Abate  Caluso,  who  wrote  the  epitaph,  and 
received  the  last  sighs  of  Alfieri,  knew,  and  did  not  choose 
to  tell,  that  his  friend  was  never  married  to  the  widow  of 
Charles  Edward  Stewart — "  Tacendo  clamat''^ — ^his  silence  is 
eloquent. 

Alfieri,  in  the  languor  of  a  protracted  agony,  which  the 
presence  of  Caluso  assisted  him  to  support,  received  the  last 
visit  of  a  priest,  who  came  to  confess  him,  with  an  affabihty 
for  which  he  was  not  distinguished  in  the  days  of  his  health : 
but  he  said  to  him,  "  Have  the  kindness  to  look  in  to-morrow ; 
I  trust  that  death  will  wait  for  twenty-four  hours."  The  ec- 
clesiastic returned  the  next  day.  Alfieri  was  sitting  in  his 
arm-chair,  and  said,  "  At  present,  I  fancy,  I  have  but  a  few 

*  It  is  the  last  copy  of  verses  at  page  44  of  the  second  volume  of 
Parini's  works. 


250 

minutes  to  spare  :"  and  turning  towards  the  Abbe,  entreated 
him  to  bring  the  Countess  to  him.  No  sooner  did  he  see  her 
than  he  stretched  forth  his  hand,  saying,  "  clasp  my  hand,  my 
dear  friend,  I  die."* 

The  rehgious  opinions  of  Alfieri  cannot  be  collected  from 
his  writings.  His  tragedies  contain  here  and  there  a  sarcasm 
against  the  Popes,  and  in  his  fugitive  pieces  may  be  found 
some  epigrams  against  the  monastic  orders,  but  more  parti- 
cularly against  the  cardinals.  Not  a  word,  however,  has  ever 
escaped  him  against  the  Christian  doctrines.  It  is  only  upon 
close  inspection  that  we  find,  in  a  treatise  on  tyranny,  that 
auricular  confession,  and  the  indissolubility  of  marriage,  have 
contributed  to  the  enslavement  of  Italy.  His  latter  years 
were  divided  between  a  haughty  irascibility  and  a  deep  me- 
lancholy, which  afflicted  him  by  turns,  to  a  degree  which 
rendered  him  scarcely  accountable  for  his  actions.  Alfieri 
was  then  not  unfrequently  seen  in  the  churches  from  vespers 
to  sunset,  sitting  motionless,  and  apparently  wrapt  up  in  lis- 
tening to  the  psalms  of  the  monks,  as  they  chanted  them  from 
behind  the  screen  of  the  choir.  The  way  in  which  he  died 
would,  however,  lead  us  to  conjecture,  that  his  meditations 
were  not  those  of  religion,  and  that  he  chose  such  a  retreat 
in  search  of  that  solemn  tranquillity  which  alone  promised 
him  a  temporary  repose  from  the  relentless  furies  that  preyed 
upon  his  heart : 

Due  fere  Donne,  anzi  due  Furie  atroci 
Tor'  non  mi  posso — ahi  misero  ! — dal  iianco  ; 
Ira  e  Malinconia. 

The  complaint  is  from  one  of  his  own  sonnets.  He  print- 
ed, during  his  own  life,  but  he  could  never  be  persuaded  to 
publish,  some  prose  works,  and  amongst  them  the  treatise 
before  mentioned,  "  Delia  Tirannide,''^  and  another  entitled, 
"  //  Principe  e  le  Lettere.'^''  They  are  in  two  small  volumes. 
The  first  is  a  series  of  close  arguments  and  severe  remarks 
against  monarchy.  The  second  is  written  to  prove,  that 
poets,  historians,  and  orators,   can  flourish   only  amongst  a 

^  Stringetemi,  cara  arnica !  lu  mano,  io  muojo- 


251 

free  people,  and  that  tyranny  is  in(erei«ted  in  the  advance- 
ment only  of  the  sciences,  and  more  especially  of  medicine 
and  jurisprudence.  In  both  these  works  he  has  shown  that 
his  address  lay  chiefly  in  the  vigour  of  his  attack ;  his  pre- 
parations for  defence  were  less  skilfull}'  disposed.  Indeed, 
he  seems  to  forget  that  he  was  liable  to  a  retort.  Thus  it  is 
that  he  may  confinn  the  partisans  of  freedom,  but  he  cannot 
hope  to  make  a  convert  from  the  opposite  opinion. 

The  Italians  look  upon  the  prose  of  AHieri  as  a  model  of 
style,  particularly  on  political  subjects.  It  is  simple  and  en- 
ergetic ;  his  ideas  are  not  abundant,  but  they  are  clear  and 
precise,  and  connected  according  to  the  exactest  rules  ol" 
reasoning.  It  corresponds  well  with  a  metaphor  employed 
for  its  description  by  one  of  his  own  countrymen — '*  I  suoi 
pensieri  in  prosa  sono  non  tanto  vagamentc  dipinti  quanto 
profondamente  scolpiti."  His  language  is  pure,  and  founded 
upon  that  of  the  oldest  writers,  but  is  free  from  the  pedantry 
and  the  rust  of  antiquity.  No  man,  therefore,  was  more 
qualified  than  Alfieri  for  the  translation  of  Sallust.  In  fact, 
his  version  of  that  historian  is  reckoned  a  masterpiece. 

He  tells  us,  in  his  preface,  that  this  translation  cost  him 
many  years  of  painful  application.  The  whole  of  his  works, 
indeed,  bear  the  mark  not  only  of  laborious  effort,  but  of 
retouching,  repeated,  and  indefatigable.  In  the  latter  half 
of  his  own  memoir,  he  had  not  time  to  be  equally  scrupulous, 
and  that  part  is  written  in  a  style  occasionally  careless,  and 
in  a  language  not  always  remarkably  correct. 

Alfieri,  however,  was  not  born  to  be  the  translator  of  Virgil. 
Could  perseverance  have  obtained  his  object,  his  success  was 
certain  ;  for  he  sat  down  to  his  task  with  the  same  constancy 
with  which  he  commenced  pupil  in  the  Greek  language,  after 
he  had  passed  his  fortieth  year.  He  translated  the  whole  of 
the  iEneid  three  times  over ;  and  yet  the  version  published 
after  his  death,  generally  speaking,  gives  us  but  the  contents 
of  Virgil.  The  harmony,  the  glowing  style,  have  no  repre- 
sentative in  the  Italian  epic.  Alfieri  was  a  perfect  master  of 
his  language  ;  his  words  were  admirably  adapted  to  the  ex- 
pression of  sentiments  which  flowed  warm  from  his  heart ; 
but  which,  being  invariably  animated  by  the  same  ardent  tem- 

32 


2ij2 

perature,  absorbed  his  imagination,  and  left  no  room  for  those 
finer  and  varied  graces  which  constitute  the  charm  of  poetry. 
Above  all,  he  was  extremely  deficient  in  that  branch  of  his 
art,  in  which  his  original  is  so  consummate  a  master — the  ele- 
vation of  a  mean  subject  by  the  happy  use  of  metaphor.  He 
could  not 

•'  Throw  about  his  manure  with  dignity." 

This  must  appear  the  more  surprising,  since  the  Italian  lan- 
guage is  essentially  metaphorical,  and  is  by  that  very  quality 
capable  of  being  adapted  to  such  an  astonishing  variety  of 
styles,  according  to  the  invention,  the  taste  and  the  imagina- 
tion of  each  succeeding  writer. 

Alfieri  was  not  quite  so  unfwrtunate  in  his  translation  of 
Terence ;  but  even  there  his  simplicity  is  studied,  not  natu- 
ral ;  and  even  in  his  happiest  effort  he  betrays  the  secret  that 
he  had  no  genius  for  comic  writing. 

The  six  comedies  found  amongst  his  posthumous  works  are 
compositions  extravagant  in  the  extreme.  It  is  possible  that 
some  may  admire  them  for  their  originality :  but  the  sober 
reader  is  much  more  astonished  at  the  perseverance  with 
which  the  poet  pursued  such  unprofitable  labour.  One  only, 
entitled  The  Divorce,  is  a  satire  on  Italian  marriages.  The 
others  cannot  possibly  be  adapted  to  the  theatre.  They  are 
in  the  manner  of  Aristophanes,  and  all  turn  on  political  sub- 
jects. The  One  {UUno)  is  a  satire  against  monarchy.  The 
Few  (IPochi),  and  The  Too  Many  (7  Troppi),  attack  the  aris- 
tocratic and  the  popular  government.  A  fourth  is  meant  to 
teach  that  the  One,  the  Few,  and  the  Too  Many,  should  be 
mixed  together,  and  may  then  compose  a  system  somewhat 
tolerable. 

The  other  comedy,  called  //  Finestrino,  is  a  satire  partly 
against  religious  impostures ;  but  more  against  the  philoso- 
phers who  invent  no  good  religion,  but  yet  would  destroy  all 
the  old  creeds,  although  (so  thinks  Alfieri)  a  bad  one  is  bet- 
ter than  none  at  all.  One  of  the  principal  persons  of  the 
drama  is  Mahomet. 

The  verse  and  the  language  of  these  comedies  are  still  more 
extravagant  than  their  original  conception.     In  short,  they 


253 

are  seldom  read,  and  are  regarded,  except  by  a  very  few,  as 
unworthy  the  genius  of  Altieri. 

His  posthumous  works  contain  also  some  translations  from 
the  ancient  di-amatic  writers ;  the  Frogs,  the  Persians,  the 
Philoctctes,  and  the  Alceste.  To  the  latter  he  added  another 
play  of  his  own  composition  on  the  same  subject,  and  formed 
exactly  on  the  Greek  model.  He  pleased  himself  with  the 
innocent  assertion  that  the  new  Alceste  was  a  translation 
from  a  recovered  manuscript,  which  might  fairly  be  attributed 
to  Euripides.  It  is  the  happiest  of  his  latter  efforts,  and  is 
only  not  fit  for  the  modern  stage.  In  the  closet  it  affects  u? 
by  that  pathetic  tenderness  with  which  Alfieri  either  could  not 
or  Avould  not  embellish  his  other  tragedies,  constructed  as 
they  were  expressly  for  the  purpose  of  bracing  the  relaxed 
vigour  of  his  effeminate  fellow-countrymen. 

With  this  noble  design  he  composed  a  sort  of  drama,  alto- 
gether new,  which  he  called  a  mdo-tragedy.  His  object  here 
was  to  unite  the  music  which  the  Italians  look  upon  as  a  con- 
stituent part  of  the  theatre,  with  the  grandeur  and  pathos  of 
tragedy.  He  chose  the  Deai/t  o/*  ^6e/ for  his  subject,  and  he 
adopted  that  repeated  change  of  scene  which  his  countrymen 
would  have  regarded  as  a  monstrous  innovation,  although  it 
is  one  of  the  characteristics  of  their  opera. 

Angels  and  demons  are  part  of  the  persons  of  the  drama, 
and  are  the  singers  of  the  play.  The  poetry  of  their  songs  is 
composed  in  different  metres.  Adam,  Eve,  and  their  two 
sons  also  discourse  in  verse,  but  in  blank  verse,  and  without' 
music.  This  composition  has  some  brilliant  passages  ;  but  is, 
on  the  whole,  devoid  of  interest.  As  an  experiment  it  would 
perhaps  be  unproducible  on  the  Italian  stage,  where  the  opera 
has  formally  excluded  all  display  of  ideas  or  sentiments,  and 
almost  of  words,  and  is  solely  devoted  to  the  musician  and  the 
ballet  master. 

The  satires  of  Alfieri  will  cherish  the  melancholy  of  every 
unwilling  member  of  human  society.  They  are  directed 
against  every  condition.  Kings  and  nobles,  rich  and  poor, 
priests  and  philosophers,  physicians,  lawyers,  merchants, 
none  are  exempt ;  all  of  them,  in  fact,  are  made  the  subject, 
and  furnish  the  title  of  a  separate  censure.     The  satirist  is 


254 

free  from  personality,  and  even  all  individual  allusion ;  he 
strives  no  farther  than  to  convince  his  reader,  that  whatever 
nafay  be  bis  place  or  pursuit,  he  runs  a  great  risk  of  being  un- 
happy, and  wicked,  and  contemptible.  Of  the  women  alone 
he  says  nothing  good,  and  nothing  bad.  His  satire  on  them  is 
contained  in  a  very  few  verses,  and  resolves  itself  into  the 
maxim,  that  the  stronger  is  responsible  for  the  vices  of  the 
weaker  sex. 

There  are,  however,  certain  of  his  satires  which  are  recom- 
mendable  from  their  wit,  and  from  their  acquaintance  with 
human  nature.  We  may  select  the  Cavaliere  Servente  Vete- 
rano^  I  Pedanti, — UEdiicazionc — and  //  Duello.  In  the  lat- 
ter he  steps  forward,  like  another  Johnson,  in  defence  of  a 
practice  necessary  for  the  protection  of  the  man  of  honour, 
from  the  intrigues,  and  calumnies,  and  assaults  cf  the  coward 
and  the  bully.  Another  of  the  same  class,  /  Viaggi,  is  de- 
voted to  the  censure  of  himself,  and  of  the  nobility,  and  of 
those  who  travel  for  want  of  occupation. 

This  satire  is  in  terza  rlma^  and  is  the  best  specimen  of  that 
harshness  of  versification  which  the  warmest  admirers  of  Al- 
fieri  allow  to  be  indefensible.     He  was  seduced  into  this  error 
by  a  wish  to  shun  the  opposite  defect  which  characterized  the 
poets  of  the  preceding  generation.     The  plant  had  been  so 
warped  and  drawn  to  the  earth  on  one  side  by  Metastasio,  that 
Altieri  thought  he  could  never  recover  its  position  without 
bending  backwards  as  much  on  the  other.  The  tree  is  not  yet 
upright.     Yet  his  strange  words,  and  his  capricious  innova- 
tions in  phraseology,   profusely  as  they  are  spread  over  his 
satires  and  his  comedies,  will  be  forgotten  or  forgiven,  and  the 
force  and  purity  of  his  diction  will  ever  recommend  the  prose 
of  Alfieri   to   the  study   of  his   countrymen.     It  is  worthy  of 
remark,  that  the   Paris  edition  of  his   tragedies,  which   he 
printed  at  the  press  of  Didot,  is  partially  exempt  from  that 
harshness  of  versification  observable  in  all  his  former  editions. 
The  errors  of  a  man  of  genius  are   not  unfrequently  of 
service  to  the  cause  of  literature.     Mr.  Bellotto,  in  his  tran- 
slation of  Sophocles,  chose  Alfieri  for  his  model,  as  far  as  re- 
garded his  method  and  general  style  ;    but  he  softened  the 
diction,  he  harmonized  the  numbers  of  his  prototype,  and 


255 

thus  succeeded  in  producing  a  work  which  had  been  long  ex- 
pected, and  often  essayed  in  vain. 

Alfiori,  a  little  after  the  year  1 790,  and  before  his  return  to 
Italy,  printed  at  Kell  some  specimens  of  lyrical  poetry  in 
two  volumes.  The  first  contains  an  ode  on  the  taking  of  the 
Bastille,  and  a  poem,  comprising  five  odes  on  the  emancipa- 
tion of  America.  The  one  addressed  to  Washington  is  the 
best ;  but  bespeaks,  after  all,  only  the  originality  of  the  poet. 
It  no  less  shows  that  he  had  misdirected  his  genius ;  for  his 
ode  is  in  the  same  harsh,  dry  style  which  spoils  his  translation 
of  Virgil.  The  eulogist  of  America  could  not  be  expected 
to  spare  the  English  ;  but  his  dislike  was  confined  to  the  mi- 
nister of  the  day — the  nation  which  he  has  praised  so  often  in 
his  memoirs  he  did  not  degrade  in  his  poetry.  Indeed  his  ode 
on  the  Bastille  contains  an  appendix  with  which  we  cannot  but 
be  content.  This  is  a  short  apologue,  in  which  the  English 
are  the  hees,  the  French  the  Jlies,  of  the  fable. 

The  other  volume  of  his  lyrics  consists  in  great  part  of  ama- 
tory sonnets,  almost  all  addressed  to  the  same  person.  The 
delicacy  of  his  sentiments,  the  fire  of  his  passion,  and  the 
novelty  of  his  turns  of  thought,  redeem  the  want  of  elegance 
and  harmony,  which  must  be  regretted  in  the  whole  perfor- 
mance, and  may,  perhaps,  be  discovered  in  the  following  spe- 
cimens. 

The  first  was  written  in  the  Album,  at  Petrarch's  house,  at 
Arqua. 

O  Cameretta,  che  gia  in  te  chiudesti 
Quel  Grande  alia  cui  fama  h  angusto  il  mondo. 
Quel  gentile  d'amor  mastro  profondo 
Per  cui  Laura  ebbe  in  terra  onor  celesti. 

O  di  pensier  soaveraente  mesti 
Solitario  ricovero  giocondo  !  • 

Di  che  lagrime  amare  il  petto  inonde 
In  veder  che  ora  innonorato  resti ! 

Prezioso  diaspro,  agata,  ed  oro 
Foran  debito  fregio  e  appena  degno 
Di  rivestir  si  nobiie  tesoro. 

Ma  no ;  tomba  fregiar  d'uom  ch'  ebbe  regno 
Vuoisi,  e  por  gemme  ove  disdice  alloro  : 
Qui  basta  il  nonae  di  quel  Divo  Ingegno 


256 

The  other  is  on  the  tomb  of  Dante. 

O  gran  padre  Allighicr,  se  dal  ciel  miri 
Me  non  indegno  tuo  discepol  starmi, 
Dal  cor  traendo  profondi  sospiri, 
Prostrate  innanzi  a  tuoi  funerei  marmi ; 

Piacciati,  deh  !  propizio  a'  bei  desiri, 
D'un  raggio  di  tua  raente  illuminarmi : 
Uom  che  a  perenne  e  prima  gloria  aspiri 
Gontro  invidia  e  vilt^  dee  stringer  I'armi? 

Figlio,  i'  le  strinsi,  e  ben  men  dnol,  che  dikdi 
Nome  in  talguisaa  gente  tanto  bassa 
Da  non  pur  calpestarsi  co'miei  piedi — 

Se  in  me  fidi,  tuo  sguardo  non  abbassa  ; 
Va,  tuona,  vinci,  e  niun  di  costor  vedi, 
Non  che  parlarne  ;  ma  sovr'  essi  passa. 

His  work,  called  the  Misogallo,  of  which  he  speaks  with  so 
much  complacency  in  his  own  memoirs,  was  not  printed  until 
the  year  1814,  ten  years  after  his  death,  and  just  as  the 
French  evacuated  Italy.  One  might  have  thought  the  period 
well  chosen ;  and  yet  the  editors  were  obliged  to  leave  gaps 
in  certain  passages,  particularly  where  he  told  truth  of  the 
Popes.  The  Misogallo  is  a  mixture  of  prose  and  of  epigrams. 
These  latter  would  be  a  wretched  effort,  even  in  a  middling 
author — they  betray  the  rage  of  impotent  sarcasm.  As  for 
the  book  itself,  it  is  also  seasoned  more  with  spite  than  wit — 
a  remark  that  holds  good  of  some  other  epigrams  published 
during  the  life-time  of  the  author.  Mr.  Forsyth  has  cited  two 
that  are  just  in  point.*  The  prose  of  the  Misogallo  contains 
two  pieces  worthy  of  perusal :  one  is  the  defence  which  Al- 
fieri  would  have  put  into  the  mouth  of  Louis  XVI.  in  pre- 
sence of  the  Convention.  The  other  is  the  apology  of  the 
author  himsfelf,  for  his  detestation  of  the  French  revolution, 
as  having  ruined  the  cause  of  liberty  ;  that  cause  to  which  Al- 
(ieri  had  dedicated  all  his  talents,  and  the  better  portion  of  his 
fortune  and  his  life. 

Amongst  the  ancient  and  modern  poets  of  Italy,  no  one  has 
furnished  so  many  pictures  and  busts  as  Alfieri.  Fabre,  who 
excels  in  portraits,  and  was  his  friend,  has  taken  four  likenesses 

*  Remarks,  &c.  on  Italy,  p.  62,  edit-  2d. 


257 

in  oil ;  all  of  them  much  esteemed,  and,  it  should  seem, 
justly.  There  is  also  a  profile,  having  for  inscription  the  son- 
net in  which  he  describes  both  his  person  and  his  character. 

"  Sublime  Specchio  di  veraci  detti 
Mostranii  in  corpo  ein  aniraa  quul  sono. 
Capelli  or  radi  iti  fronte,  e  rossi  pretti ; 
Lunga  statura  e  capo  a  terra  prone. 

Sottil  persona  su  due  stinchi  schietti ; 
Bianca  pelle,  occhio  azzurro,  aspetto  buono, 
Giusto  naso,  bel  lubbro,  e  denti  elttti, 
Pallido  in  viso  piCi  che  un  Re  sul  trono. 

Or  diiro  acerbo,  ora  pieghevol  mite, 
Irato  sempre  e  non  maligno  inai, 
La  mente  e  il  cor  meco  in  perpetua  lite ; 

Per  lo  piu  mesto,  e  talor  lieto  assai, 
Or  stimandorai  Achille,  ed  or  Tersite, 
Uom,  sei  tu  grande,  o  vil  ?  Mori  e  il  saprai." 

Compare  the  Orestes,  the  Virginia,  the  Myrrha,  the  Saul, 
and  some  other  of  his  tragic  masterpieces,  with  his  comedies 
and  his  Misogallo,  and  we  shall  almost  think  it  was  the  voice 
of  conscience  that  told  him  he  was  sometimes  the  Achilles, 
sometimes  the  Thersites  of  authors. 

His  example  has  confirmed  the  opinion,  that  genius  is  the 
distinctive  merit  of  poets.  Alficri,  whose  education  was  verj 
much  neglected,  and  whose  youth  was  sunk  in  the  loosest  dis- 
i*ipation  {dissipatissima*),  rose,  in  a  few  years,  to  the  highest 
literary  distinction,  and  was  ranked  amongst  the  great  writers 
of  his  country.  His  perseverance  and  his  ardour  were,  it  is 
true,  such  as  are  rarely  seen.  Yet  the  same  perseverance, 
the  same  ardour,  were  employed  in  the  production  of  his 
latter  writings :  his  learning  was  greater,  his  knowledge  of 
the  world  more  extensive,  and  his  understanding  more  en- 
lightened by  the  progress  of  years,  and  by  that  revolution  of 
which  he  was  an  eye-witness,  and  which  sharpened  even  very 
inferior  intellects.  Neither  was  he,  at  any  period  of  his  life, 
too  advanced  in  age  for  mental  exertion,  for  he  was  not  fifty- 
three  when  he  died.  It  is  incontestable,  however,  that  the 
suppression  of  the  greater  part  of  his   posthumous  publica- 

*  See  his  letter  to  Mr.  Calsabjgi,  printed  in  the  preface  to  hie  tragedies. 


258 

lions  would  have  been  of  infinite  service  to  his  fame.  Per- 
haps he  was  born  to  shine  in  tragedy,  and  in  tragedy  alone  ; 
and  perhaps  the  prodigious  exertions  of  his  first  efforts  ex- 
hausted his  vigour  and  depressed  his  spirit,  and  condemned 
his  latter  years  to  languor  and  to  regret.  He  might  exclaim, 
with  the  ancient, 

"  Non  sum  qualis  eram :  periit  pars  maxima  nostri 
Hoc  quoque,  quod  superest  languor  et  horror  habent." 

It  is  affirmed  by  those  who  knew  him,  that  between  his  fits  of 
melancholy,  Alfieri  conversed  with  warmth,  but  always  with 
a  certain  tincture  of  bitterness ;  and  it  is  distressing  to  be 
told  that  he  studiously  avoided  all  those  whom  he  had  not 
known  for  several  years.  He  carried  this  aversion  to  new 
intimacies  to  such  a  length,  that  a  letter  addressed  by  any 
other  than  a  well-known  hand,  and  under  any  but  the  seal  of 
a  friend,  was  thrown  into  the  fire  unopened.  It  need  hardly 
be  added,  that  he  had  but  two  or  three  correspondents.  The 
public  journals  and  periodical  papers  he  never  once  looked 
into  for  many  of  his  latter  years.  Thus  he  had  no  means  of 
becoming  acquainted  with  his  own  share  of  that  glory  which 
had  been  the  principal  object  of  his  life.  Nor  did  he  believe 
himself  arrived  at  the  station  which  he  actually  occupied  in 
the  eyes  of  his  countrymen,  and  of  all  Europe.  His  melan- 
choly divested  the  vanities  of  life  of  all  their  charms,  and  he 
refused  to  cherish  the  only  illusion  that  could  console  his 
existence. 

Count  Alexander  Pepoli,  who  inherited  the  wealth  and  the 
name  of  that  powerful  family,  which,  during  the  middle  ages, 
made  themselves  masters  of  Bologna,  and  alarmed  the  princes 
of  Italy,  was  the  cotemporary,  and,  it  may  be  said,  the  'rival 
of  Alfieri.  He  wrote  tragedies,  he  wrote  comedies  :  both  the 
one  and  the  other  were  applauded  on  the  stage ;  both  the 
one  and  the  other  now  slumber  in  the  libraries.  He  aspired 
to  the  invention  of  a  new  drama,  which  he  thought  Shakspc- 
rian,  and  which  he  called  Fisedia — a  compliment  to  our  poet, 
and  a  tacit  reproof  to  all  other  writers  for  the  stage,  from 
iEschylus  downwards.  His  Representation  of  Nature  pleased 
both  the  people  and  the  actors,  but  never  came  to  a  second 
edition.     Like  Alfieri,  he  also  was  passionately  fond  of  horses, 


259 

and  he  was  bolder  than  our  poet,  for  he  drove  a  Roman  car,  a 
quadriga,  at  full  gallop  over  the  ascents  and  descents  of  the 
Apennines.  He  built  a  theatre  for  the  representation  of  his 
own  tragedies ;  he  founded  the  magnificent  printing  press  at 
Venice,  from  which,  under  the  name  of  the  Tipografa  Pepo- 
llana,  have  issued  many  works,  and  particularly  several  edi- 
tions of  the  Italian  historians.  His  daily  occupations  were 
divided,  with  a  scrupulosity  which  they  hardly  merited,  be- 
tween his  studies,  his  horses,  and  his  table.  His  guests  con- 
sisted of  men  of  letters,  of  buffoons,  of  people  of  fashion, 
and  of  parasites.  His  nights  were  devoted  to  the  pursuits  of 
gallantry,  in  which  he  was  sufficiently  successful  ;  for  he  was 
handsome  and  he  was  rich.  His  amours  were  occasionally 
postponed  for  his  billiards,  at  which  he  lost  large  sums  of  mo- 
ney, in  the  pursuit  of  an  excellence  which  he  would  fain  have 
attained  at  all  games  of  skill.  His  great  ambition  was  to  be 
the  first  runntr  in  Italy,  and  he  died  in  1 796,  before  he  was 
forty,  of  a  pulmonary  complaint,  which  he  had  caught  in  a 
foot-race  with  a  lacquey.  He  merits  a  place  in  this  memoir, 
not  for  the  brilliancy  of  his  compositions,  but  for  the  ^hade 
of  relief  which  they  furnish  to  the  similar  and  successful 
efforts  of  Alfieri. 

HIPPOLITUS  PINDEMONTE. 

The  Marquis  John  Pindemonte,  eldest  brother  of  him  who 
will  be  here  treated  of,  is  a  proof  of  the  preliminary  observa- 
tion, that  a  man  of  literature  may  be  very  popular  in  Italy, 
and  yet  be  without  that  settled  reputation  which  owes  its 
origin  to  the  suffrages  of  the  learned  class  of  readers.  This 
nobleman,  in  conjunction  with  Pepoli,  kept  for  some  time 
possession  of  the  stage.  The  tragedies  of  John  Pindemonte, 
which  are  now  almost  forgotten,  brought  crowds  to  the  theatre 
at  the  time  that  Alfieri  was  listened  to  with  impatience. 
Hippolitus  Pindemonte  has  perhaps  less  imagination  than  his 
brother,  but  he  was  naturally  endowed  with  a  certain  delicacy 
of  taste,  the  developement  of  which,  by  an  education  truly 
classical,  has  secured  for  him  the  highest  distinctions  of 
literature.     It  is,  however,  a  fact  which  any  one  will  verify 


260 

by  a  careful  inquiry,  that  the  poetry  of  Hippohtus  Pindemonte 
is  not  rehshed  by  the  generaUty  of  readers,  who  are  neverthe- 
less obliged  to  repeat  bis  praises,  having  been  taught  that 
lesson  by  the  learned  distributors  of  literary  fame,  and  by 
those  who  are  by  tacit  consent  allowed  to  possess  the  most 
cultivated  taste.  The  same  obedient  crowd  throng  the  play- 
houses, to  see  the  tragedies  of  his  elder  brother,  but  the  fear 
of  the  same  censors  prevents  them  from  praising  the  composi- 
tion of  their  favourite  dramas. 

Hippolitus  has  also  written  a  tragedy  on  the  death  of  Armi- 
nius,  the  German  hero,  whose  conspiracy  against  the  liberties 
of  his  country  was  punished  with  death,  from  the  hand  of  his 
own  relations.  The  style  of  this  piece  is  much  applauded  ; 
the  pJan  of  it  is  on  the  model  of  Shakspeare,  without,  how- 
ever, a  total  abandonment  of  those  ancient  rules  which  the 
Italians  will  allow  no  writer  to  violate  with  impunity.  He  has 
introduced  chorusses  sung  by  young  warriors  and  maidens, 
and  has  thus  combined,  with  some  success,  the  English,  the 
Greek,  and  the  Italian  drama — as  to  the  French  plan,  the 
example  and  the  system  of  Alfieri  have  created  a  persuasion 
that  it  is  irreconcilable  with  the  Italian  theatre.  Whether 
the  Arminius  has  stood  the  great  test,  does  not  appear  in  the 
published  play.  Perhaps  it  has  been  never  acted,  and  per- 
haps it  may  be  as  little  qualified  for  any  stage  as  the  Caractacus 
and  the  Elfrida  would  be  for  our  own. 

The  works  of  Pindemonte  which  are  most  esteemed,  are 
some  lyncal  poems,  and  particularly  his  epistles  in  verse. 
These  last  contain  a  happy  assemblage  of  qualities  not  easily 
combined.  The  Italians  behold  in  them  the  amenity  of 
Horace,  the  tenderness  of  Petrarch,  and  a  certain  gravity  of 
ideas  and  sentiments,  for  which,  perhaps,  he  is  indebted  to 
his  acquaintance  with  English  poetry.  A  similar  transfusion 
of  our  style  was  before  attempted  by  Mazza.  The  epistles 
are  in  blank  verse,  the  favourite  metre  of  the  present  day. 

This  writer  has  not  only  borrowed  the  English  style,  but 
many  individual  passages  of  our  poets,  more  particularly  of 
Milion  and  of  Gray.  The  plagiaries,  if  they  may  so  be 
called,  are  inserted  with  considerable  taste  and  effect.  A 
great  part  of  his  youth  was  spent  in  travelling,  and  he  lived 


261 

long  enough  in  England  to  become  familiar  with  our  literature. 
His  Campestri  contain  some  copies  of  verses  addressed  to 
Englishmen.  He  speaks  with  enthusiastic  admiration  of  their 
country ;  and  it  may  be  pleasing  to  see  a  fine  description 
which  he  gives  of  a  park,  one  of  the  characteristic  beauties 
of  England. 

Speaking  of  the  practice  of  raising  tombs  in  gardens,  ho 
continues, 

"  Cos!  eletta  dirnora  o  si  pietosa 

L'  Anglo  talvolta,  che  profondi  e  forti 

Non  meno  che  i  pensier,  vaota  gli'  affetti, 

A\W.  piii  amate  ceneri  destina 

Nelle  sue  tanto  celebrate  ville, 

Ova  per  gli  occhi  in  seno,  e  per  gli  orecchi 

Tanta  ra'  cntra\  a,  e  si  innocente  ebbrezza. 

Oh  chi  mi  leva  in  alto,  e  chi  mi  porta 

Tra  quegli  ameni,  dilettosi,  immensi 

Boscherecci  teatri !  Oh  chi  mi  posa 

Su  que'  verdi  tappeti,  entro  que'  foschi 

Solitarj  ricoveri,  nel  grembo 

Di  quelle  valli,  ed  a  que'  colli  in  vetta  ! 

Non  recise  cola  bellica  scure 

Le  gioconde  ombre ;  i  conseuti  asili 

lA  non  cercaro  invan  gli  ospiti  augelli : 

Ne  Priraavera  s'  ingannft,  veggendo 

Sparito  dalla  terra  il  noto  bosco, 

Che  a  rivestir  venia  delle  sue  frondi. 

Sol  nella  man  del  giardinier  solerte 

Mand6  lampi  cola  1'  acuto  ferro, 

Che  rast  il  prato  ed  ajcguagliollo  ;  e  i  rami 

Che  Ira  lo  aguardo,  e  le  lontane  scene 

Si  ardivano  frappor,  dotto  corresse. 

Prospetti  vaghi,  inaapettati  incontri, 

Bei  sentieri,  antri  freschi,  opachi  seggi, 

Lente  acque  e  mutft  all'  erba  e  ai  fiori  in  mezzo, 

Precipitanti  d'  alto  acque  tonanti, 

Dirupi  di  sublime  orror  dipinti, 

Campo  e  giardin,  lusso  erudito  e  agreste 

Semplicita — Quinci  ondeggiar  la  messe, 

Pender  le  capre  da  un'  aerea  balza, 

La  valle  mugolar,  bellare  il  colic  : 

Quinci  raarmoreo  sovra  1'  onde  un  ponto 


262 

Ciirvarsi,  e  un  tempio  biancheggiar  tra  il  verde  ; 

Straniure  piatite  frondeggiar,  che  d'  ombre 

Spargono  Americane  il  suol  Brittanno, 

E  sii  ramo,  che  avea  per  altri  augelli 

N.ilura  ordito,  augei  cantar  d'Europa- 

Mentre  superbo  delle  arboree  corna 

Va  per  In  selva  il  cervo,  e  spesso  il  capo 

Volge,  e  ti  guarda  ;  e  in  mezzo  all'  onda  il  cigno 

DttI  pie  fa  remo,  il  collo  inarca,  e  fende 

L'  argentt'O  lago.     Cosi  bel  soggiorno 

Sentono  i  briUi  stessi,  e  delle  selve 

Scuoton  con  istupor  la  cima  i  venti. 

D'"h  per^ch  non  poss'  io  tranquilli  passi 

Muovere  ancor  per  quelle  vie,  celarmi 

Sotto  1'  intreccio  ancor  di  que'  frondosi 

Rami  ospitali,  e  udir  da  lunge  appena 

Mngghiar  del  Mondo  la  tempesta,  urtarsi 

L'  uu  contro  1'  altro  popolo,  corone 

Spozzarsi,  e  scettri  ?  oh  quanta  strage  !  oh  quanto 

Scavar  di  fosse,  e  traboccar  di  corpi 

E  ai  condottiel-  trafitti  alzar  di  tombe  !" 

It  was,  however,  neither  our  parks  nor  our  learned  leisure 
that  awakened  such  lively  feelings,  and  called  forth  such  ar- 
dent vows  forhis  return  to  England.  Our  women  must  share 
the  merit  of  the  inspiration  ;  for  Pindemonte  has  given  the 
initial  of  some  nymph  who  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  the  ob- 
ject of  his  first  real,  as  well  as  his  first  poetic,  passion.  It  may 
perhaps  be  flattering  to  this  person,  if  she  is  still  in  existence, 
to  know  that  the  poet's  verses  to  Miss  H  *  *  *  are  esteemed 
by  the  Italians  as  some  of  his  best,  and  not  unworthy  of  com- 
parison with  those  which  have  immortalized  the  charms  of 
Laura.  They  are  in  the  form  of  a  canzone,  in  the  manner  of 
Petrarch,  and  the  two  first  stanzas  are  as  follows  : 

"  O  Giovenetta,  che  la  dubbia  via 

Di  nostra  vita,  pellegrina  allegra, 

Con  pie  non  sospettoso  iraprinii  ed  orni ; 

Sempre  cosi  propizio  il  ciel  ti  sia  ! 

Nfe  adombri  mai  nube  improvvisa  e  negra 

L'  innocentcseron  de'  tuoi  bei  giorni. 

Non  che  il  Mondo  ritnrni 

A  te  quanto  gii  dai  tu  di  dolcezza, 

Gh'  egli  stesso  ben  sa  non  poter  tanto- 


263 

Valle  fe  questa  di  pianto 

£  gran  dan  no  qui  spesso  b  gran  bellezza, 

Qui  dove  perde  agevolmente  fama 

Qual  pid  vaga  si  chiama  : 

Come  andra  I'  alma  mia  giojosa  e  paga 

Se  impunemente  esaer  potrai  si  vaga ! 

"  II  men  di  che  pu6  donna  esser  cortese 

Ver  chi  I'  ha  di  sfe  stesso  assai  pi"  cara 

Da  te,  vergine  pura,  io  non  vorrei : 

Veder  in  te  quella  che  pria  m'  accese 

Bramo,  e  sol  temo  che  men  grande  e  cara 

Ci6  ti  faccia  parere  agli  occhi  miei. 

Nfe  volontier  torrei 

Di  spargerti  nel  sen  foco  amoroso, 

Chfe  quanto  b  a  me  piu  noto  il  fiero  ardore 

Delitto  far  maggiore 

Mi  parria  se  turbassi  il  tuo  riposo. 

Maestro  io  primo  li  sard  d'  affanno  ? 

O  per  me  impareranno 

Nuovi  affanni  i  ttioi  giorni,  ed  interrotti 

Sonni  per  me  le  tue  tranquille  notti  ?" 

The  w^ole  of  the  remainder  of  this  canzone  gives  a  flat- 
tering picture  of  the  beauty,  of  the  modesty,  and  of  the  unaf- 
fected graces,  of  the  Enghsh  young  women  of  that  day  ;  and 
the  dehcacy  of  such  a  passion  redounds  not  less  to  the  credit 
of  the  poet  than  of  the  lady,  who  must  either  have  been  na- 
turally exempt  from  the  ambition  of  coquetry,  or  must  have 
taken  great  pains  to  conceal  it. 

The  same  author  has  published  a  romance  in  prose,  which, 
as  far  as  regards  the  apparent  purpose  of  the  work,  reminds 
us  of  Rasselas.  But  Pindemonte's  Abarite  has  failed  to  pro- 
cure him  the  reputation  of  a  distinguished  prose  writer.  For 
purity,  for  erudition,  for  polish,  it  is  not  inferior  to  his  verses, 
but  it  wants  the  charm  of  those  pleasing  compositions.  His 
prefaces,  his  literary  correspondence,  and  his  little  biographies, 
have  never  been  seriously  criticised,  and  are  perhaps  not 
worth  it. 

He  Jias  been  assailed,  like  all  other  writers,  by  repeated 
criticisms ;  but  those  criticisms  have  made  little  noise,  and, 
however  they  may  have  really  affected  him,  have  not  disturb- 


264 

*d  his  apparent  tranquillity.  The  baseness  of  flattery,  the 
bitterness  of  censure,  will  not  be  found  in  the  personal  allu- 
sions of  Pindemonte.  His  writings,  like  his  conversation,  are 
those  of  an  accomplished  gentleman. 

He  has  always  in  theory  been  devoted  to  the  cause  of  liber- 
ty ;  but  at  the  coming  of  the  French  he  laid  down  for  his  con- 
duct one  inviolable  maxim — Hide  thy  life ;  notwithstanding 
that  his  eldest  brother  and  many  of  his  friends  have  been  active- 
ly engaged  with  different  political  parties.*  He  has  confined 
himself  to  some  poetical  complaints  of  the  ravages  and  de- 
gradation which  the  sword  of  the  stranger  has  for  so  many 
ages  inflicted  on  his  unhappy  country. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution  he  has  passed  his 
time  between  Venice  and  Verona,  his  native  town,  and  chiefly 
employed  upon  a  translation  of  the  Odyssey.  There  are  many 
Italian  translations  of  Homer,  but  not  one  has  yet  obtained 
that  complete  success  which  the  voice  of  the  nation,  and  the 
sanction  of  the  learned  world,  alone  can  bestow.  Pinde- 
moate  has,  it  is  probable,  judiciously  selected  this  poem  in 
preference  to  the  Iliad,  which  would  have  required  more  ima- 
gination and  more  energy  than  are  the  characteristic?  of  his 
style.  The  two  first  books  were  published  some  time  ago,  and 
Italy  was  as  impatient  as  such  a  prospect  can  make  her,  for 
th?  remainder  of  the  performance.  The  whole  translation 
appeared  at  the  close  of  the  last  year,  but  what  was  the  effect 
or  judgment  resulting  from  it,  cannot,  of  course,  yet  be 
known.  The  poet's  health  has  of  late  years  been  much  on 
the  decline,  and  obliged  him  to  proceed  leisurely  with  his  oc- 
cupation. He  has  passed  his  sixtieth  year,  and  age  and  infir- 
mity have  made  him  devout.  His  spiritual  exercises  occupy 
a  considerable  portion  of  his  time,  and  plunge  him  into  that 
consuming  solitude  which  a  more  rational  religion  would  teach 
him  to  exchange  for  the  active  duties  and  social  amusements  of 
life. 

This  author  is  not  ranked  amongst  the  men  of  surpassing 
genius  which  Italy  has  produced,  and,  perhaps,  ought  not  to 
be :  but  the  assiduity  of  his  studies  ;   the  consummate  skill 

*  See  his  own  declaration  in  the  preface  to  his  Epistles,  published  at 
Verona,  in  the  year  1805. 


265 

with  which  he  has  known  where  to  employ,  and  how  to  deve- 
lope  his  superior  abilities ;  the  sleepless  care  with  which  he 
has  watched  over  the  rise,  and  preserved  the  integrity  of  his 
fame ;  the  decorum  both  of  his  life  and  writings ;  have  se- 
cured for  him  the  undisputed  possession  of  the  first  place  in 
the  intermediate  class,  between  the  great  masters  of  the  art, 
and  those  who  write  to  captivate  the  multitude.  The  English 
reader  will  understand  this  place  by  recurring  to  the  author  of 
the  Pleasures  of  Memory,  and  perhaps  that  gentleman  may 
accept  as  much  of  the  comparison  as  the  just  ambition  of  a 
poet  will  allow  him  to  think  consistent  with  the  pretension  to 
unqualified  excellence.  This  rntermediate  class,  although,  as 
in  the  present  instance,  it  occasionally  produces  an  author,  is 
composed  for  the  most  part  of  those  who  may  be  called  ra- 
ther learned  readers  than  learned  writers.  Such  a  class  has 
sprung  up  partially  amongst  ourselves,  but  with  this  difference, 
that  our  critics,  although  they  do  not  condescend  to  advance 
in  the  regular  uniform  of  writers,  still  appear  in  print,  and  that 
not  unfrequently ;  whereas  in  Italy  they  seldom  take  up  the 
pen,  and  acquire  by  that  discretion  a  dignity  which  gives  more 
weight  to  their  oral  judgment.  These  persons  have  received 
what  we  call  a  regular  education,  are  familiar  with,  and  form- 
ed upon,  the  classical  writers,  both  ancient  and  modern ;  and, 
by  an  habitual  application  of  the  prescribed  rules  to  every 
popular  performance,  are  the  self-instituted,  but  undisputed, 
arbiters  of  taste.  There  are  five  or -six  of  these  in  every  con- 
siderable town ;  and  one  set,  some  of  whom  are  perhaps  au- 
thors, presides  over  all  the  provincial  critics :  not  even  the 
writers  of  a  respectable  class  dare  to  pronounce  their  opinioo 
without  a  previous  inquiry  at  the  national  oracle.  A  great 
compiler,  Tiraboschi  for  instance,  would  not  have  ventured 
to  speak  of  a  cotemporary  until  he  knew  what  decision  had 
been  pronounced  by  Bettinelli  or  Roberti. 

These  persons  establish,  by  the  union  of  their  suffrages,  a 
reputation  which  is  sure  not  to  be  ephemeral.  But  there  is 
yet  another  class  of  readers,  whom  it  is  prudent  to  gain  be- 
fore an  author  can  promise  himself 

"  The  life  to  come  in  every  poet's  creed." 


266 

These  are  the  men  of  cultivated  minds,  the  men  of  the  world; 
a  vague  phrase,  but  which  will  he  understood,  although  it 
cannot  be  precisely  defined.  With  the  combined  verdict  of 
the  former  as  the  guardians  of  the  language,  and  of  the  latter 
as  the  organ  of  the  feelings  of  his  countrymen,  the  Italian 
author  may  be  secure  that  the  common  readers  will  follow  in 
a  crowd,  and,  like  the  Romans  to  Augustus,  raise  frequent 
altars  to  his  living  merit. 

VINCENT  MONTI. 

This  poet  has  always  enjoyed,  and  still  enjoys  a  sort  of  pre- 
eminence, of  which,  notwithstanding  all  the  world  seems 
agreed  upon  his  claims,  he  has  often  been  very  nearly  de- 
prived. His  subjects  have,  for  the  most  part,  been  popular 
and  occasional.  He  has  laid  hold  of  the  most  interesting 
events  of  the  moment :  he  has  sustained  the  preponderating 
opinions,  and  he  has  invariably  advocated  the  interests  of  the 
succeeding  reigning  powers.  With  such  advantages,  it  is  not 
strange  that  he  should  have  found  many  willing  and  eager 
readers  ;  nor  is  it  more  strange  that  all  the  various  govern- 
ments, one  after  the  other,  should  have  continued  to  rank 
him  amongst  their  partisans.  It  may  excite  somewhat  more 
surprise  to  remark  the  air  not  only  of  enthusiasm,  but  of  sin- 
cerity, with  which  he  has  delivered  his  contradictory  pane- 
gyrics, and  to  admire  the  address,  with  which  he  appears 
rather  repentant  than  changeful,  and  converts  the  dictates  of 
interest  into  a  case  of  conscience.  By  turns  flattering  and 
irritating  every  party,  he  has  not  only  roused  the  passions  of 
his  cotemporaries.  but  has  given  them  a  direction  towards 
himself.  His  real  merit,  and  the  advantage  derived  from  his 
powerful  pen  by  the  triumphant  faction,  have  protected  hira 
from  neglect  5  and  that  prostitution  of  talents  which  would 
have  rendered  him  either  odious  or  ridiculous  in  England, 
has  been  less  contemptible  in  a  country  where  there  is  more 
indifference,  and  less  intelligence  employed,  in  the  view  of 
political  transactions. 

For  three  centuries  not  a  single  Italian  poet  had  raised  his 
voice  against  the  will  or  the  wish  of  the  powerful.  Alfieri 
and  Parini  had  made  the  first  noble  exception  to  this  submis- 


267 

»ion,  and  it  was  more  easy  to  admire  than  imitate  so  rare  an 
example.  Monti,  independent  of  the  difTerencc  of  natural 
disposition,  was  not  born  to  the  wealth  of  Alfieri,  nor  was  he 
thrown  into  the  same  juncture  of  circumstances  that  had 
favoured  the  Milanese  poet ;  neither  had  he  been  formed  by 
that  independent  education  which  both  the  one  and  the  other 
had  enjoyed.  In  a  word,  Monti  was  brouglit  up  at  the  court 
of  Rome. 

The  charm  of  Monti's  poetry  consists  in  a  pleasing  union  of 
the  soft  and  the  strong.  His  ideas  are  strikingly  apparent,  his 
sentiments  are  full  of  fire,  his  verses  are  truly  melodious,  and 
his  imagery  is  highly  embellished,  and  has  received  the  last 
finishing  and  decoration  of  taste.  He  has,  indeed,  touched 
nothing  that  he  has  not  adorned.  If  his  polish  is  confined  to 
the  surface,  not  only  himself  but  his  readers  are  content  with- 
out inquiring  into  the  depth  of  his  capacity. 

Monti  owed  the  first  diffusion  of  his  reputation  to  his  Aristo- 
demus,  a  tragedy  which,  to  use  the  language  of  the  stage,  is  a 
stock  play  in  constant  acting,  notwithstanding  the  passion  and 
interest  are  totally  confined  to  the  chief  character.  The  dia- 
logue was  found  to  have  more  warmth,  and  colouring,  and 
energy,  than  that  of  Metastasio,  who  was  then  in  possession  of 
the  stage ;  and  the  audience  were  not  terrified  even  by  the 
shadow  of  that  harshness,  and  violence,  and  obscurity,  which 
characterized  the  tragedies  of  Alfieri,  who  was  just  emerging 
into  notice,  and  regarded  as  a  wild  irregular  genius,  scarcely 
within  the  pale  of  literary  civilization.  Monti  then  was  the 
tragic  writer  of  Italy,  and  was  confidently  hailed  as  the  suc- 
cessful candidate  for  an  eminence  as  yet  never  occupied. 

He  afterwards  published  two  other  tragedies  :  Galcotto  Man- 
fredi,  which  is  not  only  far  below  his  Aristodemus,  but  beneath 
the  talents  of  the  author,  and  Caius  Gracchus.  Some  fine  pas- 
sages constitute  the  sole  merit  of  the  last  tragedy,  into  which 
he  has  introduced  some  scenes  that  the  Italians  are  pleased  to 
call  by  far  too  natural — ^'  assai  troppo  naturali.^^  These  scenes 
were  expressly  imitated  from  Shakspeare,  and  succeeded  at 
first — nobody,  however,  dared  to  applaud  them  in  the  subse- 
quent representations.  The  critical  spectators  near  the  or- 
chestra, and  the  closet-judges,  having  once  condemoed  that 

34 


26d 

which  appears  t6  mihtate  against  classical  authority,  their 
sentence  is  irrevocable  : — the  people  have  not  a  voice  ;  or,  il" 
they  dare  to  speak,  are  not  heard.  The  defects  of  Monti's 
tragedies  are  reducible  to  the  insignificance  of  his  characters, 
to  the  irregularity  of  his  plot,  and  to  a  style  sometinjes  too  ly- 
rical, sometimes  too  tame.  These  were  discovered  by  the 
audience,  and  perhaps  by  the  poet,  for  he  laid  no  further 
claim  to  the  throne  of  Melpomene. 

The  work  of  his  which  has  made  the  most  noise,  is  the 
"  Cantica  in  morte  di  Ugo  Basville,'^''  published  in  Rome  in 
1793,  when  the  author  was  about  thirty-five  years  of  age. — 
This  poem  is  even  now  considered  superior  to  the  subsequent 
productions  of  this  fruitful  writer,  who  has  never  laid  aside, 
and  still  holds  the  pen.  An  edition  of  it  has  been  published 
ill  London  by  Mr.  Matthias,  with  the  title  La  Revoluziont 
Franceze,  and  another  appeared  at  Paris  with  another  name, 
Le  Dante  Ingentilito.  It  would  be  difficult  to  guess  at  the  mo- 
tive for  these  changes,  with  which  it  is  probable  the  poet  was 
not  made  acquainted  ;  and  it  would  be  more  difficult  still  to 
justify  the  usurpation  of  rights  which  appear  to  belong  only  to 
the  author. 

Hugh  Basville  was  a  man  of  letters,  employed  on  a  mission 
at  Rome  by  the  National  Convention.  His  object  was,  pro- 
bably, to  sow  the  seeds  of  democracy,  and  to  watch  the  con- 
duct of  the  papal  government  in  the  approaching  revolution. 
Others  there  are,  however,  who  affirm  that  he  was  only  on  his 
return  from  the  court  of  Naples,  where  he  had  been  secretary 
of  the  French  Legation,  and  that  he  was  charged  with  no  such 
commission.  This  is  asserted  in  one  of  the  numbers  of  the 
Gazette  des  Maires,  published  at  Paris  by  Captain  de  Bas- 
ville, who  has  undertaken  to  justify  his  father's  memory. 
The  Roman  populace,  however,  looked  upon  him  as  a 
Jacobin  spy,  murdered  him,  and  pillaged  his  house.  The 
capital  of  the  world  indulged  in  a  savage  triumph  at  this  ex- 
ploit, and  the  ministers  of  the  pope,  by  their  inactivity  to 
punish,  were  suspected  of  participating  in  the  crime.  But 
Pius  VL  was  generous  enough  to  save  the  wife  and  child  of 
Basville  from  the  rage  of  the  multitude.  On  this  occasion 
Monti  wrote  his  poem. 


269 

According  to  the  anecdotes  contained  in  some  pamphlelc, 
and,  amongst  others,  in  one  called  Esame  su  le  accuse  contro  V. 
Monti,  pubhshcd  at  Milan  in  1798,  Monti  was  the  friend  of 
Basville  ;  and  it  is  certain,  that  in  the  greater  part  of  his  sub- 
sequent writings  he  showed  himself  a  friend  of  the  revolution. 
His  poem  justified  the  court  of  Rome,  perpetuated  the  name  of 
his  friend,  and  saved  himself  from  the  perils  of  his  late  intimacy 
with  a  Jacobin.  The  plan  of  this  work  is  very  simple.  Bas- 
ville repents  and  dies,  and  is  pardoned  by  the  Almighty.  An 
angel  conducts  his  spirit  across  those  kingdoms  of  the  earth 
which  had  been  desolated  by  the  wars  and  crimes  of  the 
French  revolution.  They  arrive  at  Paris  at  the  moment  that 
Louis  XVI.  is  mounting  the  scaffold.  The  spirit  of  the  king, 
ascending  to  heaven,  meets  the  shade  of  Basville,  and  the  an- 
gel makes  them  known  to  each  other.  The  king  questions 
him,  and  Basville  narrates  the  cause  and  the  manner  of  his 
death. 

La  f route  sollevo,  rizzossi  in  piedi 
Uaddolorato  spirto  ;  e  le  pupille 
Tergendo,  a  dire  i  comincid  :  Tu  vedi, 

Signor,  nel  tuo  cospetto  Ugo  Basville 
Dalla  Francese  Liherta  mandato 
Sul  Tehro  a  suscitar  Vempie  scintille, 

Stolto  !  eke  volli  con  V immobil  fato 
Cozzar  della  gran  Roma,  onde  ne  porto 
Rotta  la  tempia  e  ilfianco  insanguinato. 

Che  di  Giuda  il  Leon  non  anco  e  morto 
Ma  vive  e  rugge  /  e  il  pelo  arruffa  e  gli  occhi 
Terror  d^Egitto,  e  d''Israel  conforto  : 

E  se  monta  in  furor,  Paste,  e  gli  stocchi 
Sa  spezzar  Je'  nemici ;  e  par  che  gride 

"  SON  LO  SDEGNO  DI  DIG  :    NESSUN  MI   TOCCHI." 

Here  Basville  confesses  the  crime  which  brought  him  to  his 
end,  and  lauds  the  vengeance  of  Rome  and  of  the  Lion  of  Ju- 
dah.  But  the  above  quotation  suggests  another  remark,  which 
will  be  found  more  or  less  true  of  all  Monti's  works  ;  namely, 
that  he  has  not  scrupled  to  insert  the  ideas,  and  the  turns  of 


270 

expression  of  former  poets  in  his  best  verses.    The  beginning 

of  this  canto  reminds  us  of  that  of  Dante's  Ugolino  ;  I 

La  bocca  solIev6  dal  fero  pasto 
Quel  peccator — 

Poi  comraincid :  Tu  vuoi — 
and  the  last  verse  is  evidently  from  Petrarch, 

"  Son  del  Cesare  mio :  nessun  mi  tocchi." 

Monti  indeed  regards  it  as  a  portion  of  his  art,  and  a  proof 
of  his  talents,  successfully  to  employ  the  fine  thoughts,  and 
the  phrases  of  the  great  writers.  No  modern  author  has,  per- 
haps, so  freely  imitated  others  as  Monti ;  but  no  modern  au- 
thor has  so  frankly  confessed  his  obligations,  and  his  gratitude. 
His  notes  abound  with  the  passages  from  which  he  has  bor- 
rowed, and  he  has  the  praise  of  sometimes  improving  upon  his 
originals,  and  of  always  introducing  them  in  proper  time  and 
place.  So  far  from  accusing  him  of  plagiary,  we  are  rather 
agreeably  surprised  by  the  new  aspect  which  he  gives  to  beau- 
ties already  familiar  to  every  reader. 

The  fourth  canto  of  the  poem  prepares  us  for  the  war  of  the 
coalesced  potentates  to  revenge  the  death  of  Louis  XVI.  The 
soul  of  Basville  is  condemned  by  the  poet  to  expiate  his 
crime,  by  beholding  the  horrors  of  the  Revolution,  and  by 
wandering  without  the  precincts  of  Paradise  until  France  shall 
have  received  the  punishment  of  her  regicide  : 

Finche  noD  sia  di  Francia  ultro  ii  delitto. 

According  to  this  plan,  Monti  had  opened  an  unbounded  field 
for  his  exertions,  and  by  merely  following  the  progress  of 
events,  he  would  have  avoided  those  difficulties,  with  which 
the  necessity  of  inventing  and  arranging  a  series  of  fictions, 
has  embarrassed  the  greater  part  of  all  poetical  writers.  He 
would  only  have  had  to  select  the  most  remarkable  traits  in  the 
astonishing  history  of  our  times,  and  to  divide  them,  accord- 
ing to  the  rules  of  his  art  and  the  power  of  his  genius,  into 
pictures  which  should  command  the  delight  and  wonder  of 
posterity.  The  difficulty  of  handling  a  cotemporary  topic, 
was  not  too  great  for  the  capacity  of  Monti,  and  had  he  con- 


271 

tinued  his  Basville  to  the  victory  of  Waterloo,  he  might  have 
occupied,  next  to  Dante,  that  place  which  Virgil  possesses  in 
the  vicinity  of  Homer. 

The  voyage  of  the  angel  with  the  shade  of  Basville,  is  taken 
from  that  of  Dante  with  the  spirit  of  Yirgil.  The  terze  rime, 
a  metre  perfected  by  the  father  of  Italian  poetry,  was,  in  the 
true  sense  of  the  word,  ennobled  (ingentilito)  by  Monti.  It  is 
true  that  he  has  not  the  same  harmonious  variety,  nor  the  same 
boldness  of  expression,  nor  the  same  loftiness  of  thought  as 
are  found  in  his  model.  But  he  is  more  equal,  more  clear, 
more  finished  in  every  part :  his  images  have  not  only  the  sta- 
ble grandeur,  but  even  the  glossy  whiteness  of  Parian  sculp- 
ture ;  and  although  they  succeed  each  other  with  astonishing 
rapidity,  and  force,  and  boldness,  preserve  an  elegance  pecu- 
liar to  themselves,  more  especially  in  the  tcrze  rime,  which  no 
one  has  ever  employed  with  the  same  success.  It  is  probable 
that  Monti  will  never  be  surpassed  in  this  metre :  but  in  the 
heroic  stanza  he  could  not  come  into  the  field  against  Ariosto, 
and  Tasso ;  and  in  blank  verse,  Cesarotti,  Parini,  and  Fos- 
colo,  have  been  more  adventurous  and  more  successful. 

Monti  had  scarcely  published  the  fourth  canto  of  his  poem, 
(which,  such  as  he  left  it,  does  not  amount  to  1500  lines,) 
when  the  French  conquered  Lombardy.  Perhaps  it  was  fear, 
perhaps  it  was  interest,  or  more  likely  still  inclination,  that 
seduced  him  from  Rome,  and  settled  him  in  the  capital  of  the 
new  Cisalpine  republic.  On  this  occasion  he  quitted  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Duke  of  Braschi,  the  nephew  of  Pius  VI.  Pre- 
lates, cardinals,  and  even  Popes,  had  begun  by  being  secreta- 
'ries  like  himself,  but  Monti  was  a  married  man — he  was  a 
poet,  and  he  was  not  besides  in  the  good  graces  of  his  Holi- 
ness. He  one  day  presented  Pius  with  a  magnificent  edition 
of  his  poetry,  and  the  Pontiffcondescended  to  accept  it :  but 
added,  at  the  same  time,  after  quoting  some  verses  of  Metas- 
tasio,  "  Ab  one,  now-a-days,  writes  like  that  great  poet. '^ 

Monti  was  now  the  poet  of  the  popular  assemblies,  of  the 
armies,  of  the  democratic  dinners,  which  rose  together  at  the 
institution  of  the  new  Republic  ;  and  his  patriotic  hymns  have, 
almost  alone,  survived  the  innumerable  copies  of  verses,  in- 
spired by  occasio  ns  so  animating.     But  he  did  not  confine  him- 


272 

aelf  to  songs  ;  he  wrote  with  sober  severity  against  the  priests : 
such  are  his  Superstizione,  and  his  Fanatismo,  and  his  Visione, 
in  which  the  shade  of  Louis  XVI.  is  changed  from  the  martyr 
of  his  Basville  into  a  hideous  spectre.  Neither  his  labours 
nor  his  devotion  could,  however,  obtain  for  Monti  the  confi- 
dence or  even  the  pardon  of  the  friends  of  the  revolution : 
We  learn  this  from  his  own  lips  ;  for  he  complains  of  it,  and 
leaves  nothing  untried  to  convince  his  fellow-citizens  of  his 
sincerity,  and  begs  at  least  for  pity,  in  the  opening  of  one  of 
his  poems,  in  which  he  brings  himself  upon  the  stage,  and  as- 
sumes the  imploring  pathetic  attitude  of  the  father  of  a 
family. 

Stendi  dolce  amor  mio,  sposa  di  letta, 
A  queir  arpa  la  man,  che  la  soave 
Dolce  fatica  di  tue  dita  aspetta  ! 

Svegliami  I'armonia  ch'  entro  le  cave 
Latfebre  alberga  del  sonoro  legno, 
E  de'  fortl  pensier  volgi  la  chiave- 

These  were  to  Monti  days  of  humiliation,  and  of  bitterness, 
and  of  danger.  The  legislative  council  passed  a  severe  and 
unjust  law  against  those  who,  before  the  Italian  Revolution, 
had  written  in  favour  of  tyranny  ;  and  it  was  seen  that  this 
law  was  directed  more  particularly  against  the  author  of  the 
Basvilliana.  The  low  retainers  of  literature,  under  the  pre- 
text of  patriotism,  now  gave  vent  to  their  jealousy,  and  as- 
sailed Monti  with  scurrilities  equally  violent  and  mean. 

His  friends  had  procured  him  a  place  in  the  commissariat  of 
Romagna :  but  he  was  accused  of  peculation,  and  carried 
before  a  tribunal.  The  calumny  was  proved,  and  the  de- 
fendant acquitted,  but  no  steps  were  taken  to  punish  the 
calumniators. 

Such  were  the  dangers  of  his  position,  or  such  was  the  in- 
constancy of  his  soul,  that  Monti  disgraced  himself  beyond 
the  wishes  of  his  rivals.  Pius  VI.  was  carried  off  from  Rome 
by  the  French,  and  the  poet  chose  this  forced  migration  of 
his  former  master  for  the  occasion  of  an  invective  imitated 
from  that  ode  of  Horace,  in  which  the  Roman  republic  is 
compared  to  a  ship  tossed  by  the  wind  and  waves,  and  steer- 


273 

ing  for  the  harbour.  J*Jo  protestant  pen  has  ever  traced  in- 
vectives more  severe  against  the  Great  Harlot  than  are  pour- 
ed forth  by  the  repentant  secretary. 

Di  mala  merce  e  di  dolor  vai  carca^ 
O  Nave,  che  dal  Tosco  al  Sardo  lito 
Porti  il  gran  Pescator,  che  in  irifiniio 
Mar  di  colpe  ha  di  Pier  rotta  la  barca  : 

Vedi  come  Cinsegue  e  il  dorso  inarca 
Uonda  irata  ?  Jc'  venli  odi  il  ruggiio  ? 
Prendi  porto,  sollecita  il  pentito 
Remo  e  di  tanto  peccator  ti  scarca. 

Dante  had  before  called  upon  the  islands  of  Capraja  and  Gor- 
gona  to  block  up  the  mouth  of  the  Arno,  and  drown  the  in- 
habitants of  Pisa,  for  their  cruelty  to  the  children  of  Ugo- 
lino  ;  and  Monti  now  invoked  Sardinia,  and  told  it  to  fly 
away,  that  the  last. of  monsters  might  not  find  even  a  tomb  to 
shelter  him. 

E  drittofora 

Non  dar  di  tomha  ne  d"*  arena  tin  velo 

AW  ultimo  rfe'  mostri. 

Monti  at  least  revenged  himself  of  Pius  for  placing  him  be- 
low Metastasio. 

It  was  but  a  short  time  afterwards  that  Suvaroff  and  the 
Austrians  made  themselves  masters  of  Italy.  Monti  fled  to 
France,  and  tlie  distresses  of  his  exile  gave  a  new  vigour  and 
a  dignity  to  his  exertions. 

Mascheroni,  a  mathematician,  much  esteemed  in  Italy,  and 
a  writer  of  verses  admired  for  their  elegance,  had  distinguish- 
ed himself  for  his  enthusiastic  love  of  liberty,  and,  what 
was  much  more  rare,  by  his  noble  integrity  of  character  and 
purity  of  manners.  He  also  had  escaped,  on  the  same  occa- 
sion, to  Paris,  where  he  died.  Monti  thought  this  a  good  op- 
portunity for  writing  another  poem,  which  he  called  Tht 
Death  of  Mascheroni  (In  Morte  di  Mascheroni),  on  the  plan 
of  his  Basville.    The  spirit  of  his  hero  is  in  like  manper  made 


274 

to  traverse  the  earth,  and  in  his  view  of  the  changes  of  Italy 
beholds  the  advantages  of  Hberty  and  the  pernicious  effects  of 
popular  licentiousness.  The  political  aim  of  this  poem  is 
more  useful,  and  the  subject  is  better  handled,  than  in  the 
Death  of  Basville ;  but  the  author  could  not  refuse  himself 
the  satisfaction  of  consigning  to  perpetual  infamy  the  names 
of  his  demagogue  persecutors. 

The  Italians  discover  a  greater  variety  and  interest  in  the 
scenes  presented  to  the  notice  of  Mascheroni  than  in  those  of 
Basville.  They  think  the  style  less  pointed,  but  more  rich 
and  more  graceful,  and  they  look  upon  the  terze  rime  as  less 
monotonous  and  more  harmonious  than  any  of  his  former 
specimens.  The  plan  was  equally  vast  with  that  of  his  first 
poem,  and  it  was,  like  Basville,  also  stopped  at  the  fourth 
canto  :  for  Buonaparte  became  Emperor  of  the  French  and 
King  of  Italy,  and  Monti  hastened  to  publish  six  cantos  of 
another  poem  :  these  were  to  be  the  first  part  of  a  long  work 
which  he  called  The  Bard  of  the  Black  Forest  (II  Bardo  della 
Selva  Nera.) 

It  must  be  owned  that  the  conception  of  this  poem  is  vast- 
ly puerile.  The  author  is  obliged  to  imagine  that  there  are 
bards  who  deal  in  verse  and  prophecy  yet  to  be  found  by 
those  who  look  for  them  ;  and  just  such  a  one  as  Caesar  and 
Lucan  saw  in  the  depths  of  Germany  is  discovered  by  Monti 
in  1805,  hidden  somewhere  in  the  Black  Forest.  This  bard 
has  a  daughter,  Malvina,  who  is  surprised  into  a  sentimental 
passion  for  a  French  officer,  who  has  been  wounded  in  the 
battle  of  Albeck.  The  victories  of  Napoleon  are  chanted 
forth  by  the  same  oflicer,  who,  it  seems,  succeeds  in  persua- 
ding the  bard  of  the  advantages  of  imperial  despotism  ;  for 
he  prophesies  the  absolute  monarchy  of  the  triumphant  war- 
rior. 

This  poem  is  in  different  metres ;  in  blank  verse,  in  hero- 
ical  and  in  lyrical  stanzas ;  a  mixture  which  has  had  great 
success  with  us,  but  is  far  from  agreeable  to  the  Italians,  who 
have  been  taught  by  Dante  to  run  into  any  embarrassments 
rather  than  facilitate  the  art  of  poetry. 

Monti  left  this  poem  also  incomplete  ;  and  Napoleon,  to  en- 
courage the  continuation  of  a  prophecy  so  flattering,  created 


275 

him  a  knight  of  two  orders,  and  gave  him  a  thousand  louis 
d'ors.  The  emperor  also  assigned  him  a  pension,  and  made 
him  his  historiographer. 

The  foregoing  censure  of  the  Bard  of  the  Black  Forest 
should  be  accompanied  with  the  confession  that  it  contains 
some  admirable  passages.  Such  is  the  description  of  the 
night  after  a  bloody  battle. 

Pallido  intanto  su  P  Ahnobie  riipi 
H  Sol  cadendo,  raccogliea  d''intorno 
Dalle  cose  i  colori,  t  alia  pietosa 
Motte  del  moiido  concedea  la  cura  ; 
Ed  ella  del  regal  suo  vela  eterno 
Spiegando  il  Umbo,  raccendea  negliastri 
La  morta  luce,  e  la  spegnea  sid  volto 
Dfgli  stanchi  mortali.     Era  il  tuon  queto 
De^  fulmini  guerrieri,  ene  vagava 
Sol  per  la  valle  ilfumo  atro,  confuso 
'       Qolle  nebbie  de'  boschi  e  de^  torrenti : 
Evan  quete  le  selve,  eran  delP  aure 
Queti  i  sospiri  f  ma  lugubrl  e  cupi 
S'udian  gemiti  e  grida  in  lontananza 
Di  languenti  trajitti,  e  un  calpestio 
Di  cavalli  e  difanti,  e  sot  to  il  grave 
Peso  de''  bronziun  cigolio  dirote 
Che  mestizia  e  terror  met  tea  nel  core. 

Monti,  in  this  poem,  has  with  his  usual  taste  profited  by  the 
Ossian  of  Cesarotti  and  the  French  prose  translation  of  Gray's 
odes,  and  of  Shakspeare.  He  does  not  read  English,  but  he 
is  as  ardent  an  admirer  of  our  great  dramatist  as  he  is  of  Dan- 
te. The  writer  has  heard  him  pronounce  his  decided  judg- 
ment, that  the  world  has  produced  but  three  poets,  properly 
so  called  ;  and  Homer,  with  the  two  just  mentioned,  form  his 
triumvirate.  The  two  following  stanzas  will  be  seen  to  have 
been  copied  from  the  speech  of  Ulysses  in  Troilus  and  Crt  ssi- 
da,  where  the  necessity  of  a  monarchy  is  deduced  from  the  pre- 
eminence of  the  sun  above  the  stars. 

35 


276 

Delle  sidle  monarca  egli  s^asside 
Sul  trono  della  luce  ;  e  con  cterna 
Unica  legge  il  moto,  e  i  rai  divide 
Ai  seguaci  pianeti,  e  It  governa. 
Per  lui  JS/atura  sifeconda  e  ride  ; 
Per  lui  la  danza  armonica  s'  alterna 
Delle  stagion  ;  per  lui  nullo  si  spia 
Grano  dipolve  che  vital  non  sia. 

E  cagion  sola  del  mirando  effetto 
E  la  costante  eguale  unica  legge 
Con  che  il  raggiante  impcrador  I'aspetto 
Delle  create  cose  alto  corregge. 
Togli  questa  unild,  togli  il  perfetto 
Tenor  de'  varj  vioti,  onde  si  regge 
Uarmonia  de'frenuti  orbi  diversi, 
jG  tutli  li  vedrai  confusi  e  spersi. 

Monti  undertook  a  translation  of  the  Iliad ;  and  he  under- 
took it,  confessing  that  he  knew  nothing  of  Greek,  but  copied, 
after  the  literal  interpretations  in  Latin,  the  various  commen- 
tators, and  the  poetical  versions  of  all  his  predecessors.  He 
depended  solely  upon  his  talents  for  versification,  and  the 
charms  of  his  style.  His  readers  were  equally  confident  with 
himself:  and  their  previous  persuasion  secured  him  the  first 
applauses  with  which  his  translation  was  welcomed  even  by 
the  Greek  scholars,  who  were  happy  to  accept  of  so  powerful 
an  ally  in  their  contest  with  Cesarotti.  It  was,  however,  dis- 
covered, that  a  translation  made  by  one  who  was  ignorant  of 
the  original  could  not  be  depended  upon.  The  distrust  spread 
even  to  those  who  were  themselves  equally  unacquainted  with 
the  Greek  text ;  and  the  censures  of  the  learned  were  heard 
and  multiplied  in  every  quarter.  They  have  by  degrees  been 
pushed  to  an  extreme  equally  unjustifiable  with  the  first  praises 
of  this  translation.  Monti  had  heard  of  the  simplicity  of 
Homer  :  he  wished  to  imitate  this  quality,  which  is  so  much 
eulogized,  and  so  little  capable  of  defijiition.  To  accomplish 
this  project,  he  sprinkled  his  phrases  Avith  Italian  idiotisms, 
and  he  moreover  was  prodigal  of  words  from  the  Latin, 
which,  although  they  have  a  certain  classical  air,  and  are  well 
chosen,  expressive,  and  clear,  and  enrich  the  language,  give^ 
however,  a  prosaic  and  pedantic  air,  that  renders  his  manner 


277 

disagreeable  and  dry.  He  has  almost  always  faithfully  given 
the  meaning  of  Homer,  but  he  has  frequently  omitted  to  lay 
hold  of  those  minute  and  accessory  beauties  which  form  in 
fact  the  exclusive  merit  of  great  writers,  and  which,  as  they 
are  rather  felt  than  seen,  are  the  despair  of  the  most  expert 
translator. 

Monti  has  given  an  agreeable  colouring  to  the  pictures  of 
the  Iliad  ;  but  he  has  not  always  been  sufficiently  exact  in  his 
representation  of  him,  who  is,  as  it  were,  the  master  of  de- 
sign, and  the  father  of  all  the  great  artists.  He  is  simple  and 
he  is  easy,  but  he  is  not  natural :  he  has  more  fire  than 
strength.  It  must  still  be  allowed,  that  the  verses  and  style 
of  Monti  renders  his  Ihad  more  agreeable  than  it  appears  in 
the  meagre  translation  of  Salvini,  or  in  the  rifaccimento  of 
Cesarotti.  He  may  at  least  pretend  to  the  double  merit  of 
having  done  better  than  others,  and  of  having  excited  others 
to  do  better  than  him. 

As  to  the  general  method,  his  style  is  founded  upon  the  ex- 
quisite example  furnished  by  Virgil  in  his  imitations  of  the 
Greek  poet ;  and,  as  far  as  respects  the  versification,  he  has 
studied  the  translation  of  the  Eneid  by  Hannibal  Caro,  which 
Monti  considers  as  the  purest  model  of  blank  verse,  and  the 
true  depository  of  the  riches  and  the  elegance  of  the  Italian 
language.  His  version,  like  that  of  his  prototype,  is,  in  fact, 
invariably  flowing,  and  derives  its  chief  excellence  from 
periods  well  rounded,  and  a  cadence  always  agreeable.  The 
numbers  and  the  accents  of  each  verse  are  comparatively 
neglected.  This  manner  of  writing  flatters  the  ear,  and  is 
not  so  varied  as  to  be  fatiguing,  but  it  is  liable  to  the  monotony 
which  offends  us  in  Ovid,  and  is  still  more  striking  in  a  lan- 
guage more  melodious  and  less  sonorous  than  the  Latin,  and 
whose  heroic  verses  have  not  the  advantage  of  the  hexametral 
length. 

Monti  has  also  translated  Persius,  and  has  given  to  him  a 
clearness  of  idea  and  a  softness  of  expression  not  to  be  found 
in  the  most  obscure  and  the  harshest  of  all  the  ancient  poets. 
Yet  he  has  rendered  some  satires  line  for  line,  and  bound 
himself  by  the  test  before  applied  by  Davanzati  to  Tacitus. 
This  translation  has  ceased  to  be  spoken  of,  except  to  cite 


278     ' 

those  notes  which  were  composed  by  the  author  in  1803,  ia 
the  height  of  his  enthusiasm  for  republics,  and  of  his  detestatioa 
of  the  vice  and  tyranny  of  the  Roman  Emperors. 

The  talents  of  Monti  were  devoted,  with  a  constancy  pro- 
portioned to  the  duration  of  the  French  power,  to  the  praise 
of  Napoleon,  his  unwearied  patron.  But  neither  the  attach- 
ment of  the  poet,  nor  the  liberality  of  the  Emperor,  con- 
tributed, in  the  expected  degree,  to  the  reputation  of  the 
author  or  to  the  glory  of  his  imperial  Mecaenas.  When 
Napoleon,  after  the  battle  of  Jena,  sent  the  sword  of  Fre- 
deric II.  to  Paris,  Monti  wrote  a  poem  in  one  canto,  and 
called  it  the  Sword  of  Frederic.  But  La  Spada  di  Federico 
had  some  defects,  not  only  of  composition  and  style,  but 
even  in  the  versification,  which  the  partisans  of  Buonaparte 
themselves  could  not  pardon,  and,  accordingly,  attacked  with 
a  success  dangerous  to  the  superiority  of  Monti,  who  ran  a 
second  risk  of  losing  his  pre-eminence,  by  a  poem  which  he 
published  two  or  three  years  afterwards,  and  called  the 
Palingenesis.  This  Regeneration  was  the  system  of  Pythagoras 
demonstrated  in  the  metamorphoses  produced  in  the  world  bj 
the  genius  of  Buonaparte  ;  and  the  apparent  object  of  Monti 
was  to  rival  the  Pronea  of  Cesarotti.  Monti  had  not  the 
same  excuse  as  the  Paduan  poet ;  he  was  not  very  aged,  nor 
did  he  write  at  the  express  order  of  the  Emperor.  But  his 
Palingenesis  was  not  more  fortunate  than  the  Pronea. 

The  odes  published  by  Monti  on  the  usual  occasions  of 
victories  and  treaties  of  peace,  on  the  marriages  and  the 
births  of  princes,  and  which  he  struck  off  at  a  heat  with  in- 
conceivable rapidity,  are  most  of  them  finished  to  perfection. 
Even  those  which  are  on  the  whole  but  middling  perform- 
ances, contain  stanzas  cited  by  the  Itahans  as  masterpiece? 
in  tliis  way  of  writing. 

"  Lassu,  dov''  anco 
II  muto  arriva 

Gemer  del  verme  che  calcato  spira  ; 
Del  Xume  al  Jianco 


279 

Siede  una  Diva, 
Che  chiusa  in  negro  ammanto 
Scrive  i  delitti  coronati,  e  aW  ira 
Di  Dio  presenta  delle  genti  il  pianto^^ 

The  series  of  Monti's  poems  would  not  be  completely  cited 
without  mentioning  three  of  considerable  length  ;  II  Prometeo, 
La  Musogonia,  and  La  Feroniade,  of  which  he  has  published 
only  the  first  cantos  and  some  fragments.  The  second  of 
these  is  an  imitation  of  Hesiod.  The  allegory  of  Prometheus 
furnishes  a  clear  and  poetical  developement  of  the  merit  and 
the  perilous  course  of  that  superior  order  .of  beings  who 
dedicate  their  lives  to  the  enlightening  of  the  human  race, 
and  displays  the  ingratitude  of  the  people  towards  the  defend- 
ers of  their  liberty,  and  the  despotism  which  is  the  closing 
scene  of  every  political  drama.  La  Feroniade,  a  name  bor- 
rowed from  that  of  the  nymph  cited  by  Virgil  and  Horace, 
and  who  was  one  of  the  Roman  deities  that  had  a  temple  in 
the  Pontine  Marshes,  was  a  poem  composed  for  Pius  VI., 
who  had  undertaken  to  drain  and  cultivate,  and  people  those 
marshes.  The  enemies  of  Monti  republished  some  passages 
of  these  three  poems,  to  show  that  he  had  substituted  the 
eulogy  of  his  new  protectors  by  the  erasure  of  those  ori- 
ginally inserted  in  praise  of  the  Pope. 

The  prose  of  Monti  is  distinguished  for  the  ease,  the  clear- 
ness, the  harmony,  and  the  metaphorical  richness  which  cha- 
racterize his  verses  ;  but  the  style  is  unequal,  and  now  and 
then  infected  with  Gallicisms,  The  poetical  diction  of  Italy 
has,  by  the  efforts  of  many  great  writers,  retained  its  purity 
through  the  revolutions  of  five  centuries  ;  but  the  prose  has 
been  subject  to  the  changes  of  time,  and  to  the  invasion  of 
foreign  arms  and  foreign  literature.  Monti  has  been  lately 
occupied  with  a  laborious  work,  meant  to  supply  the  void  left 
by  the  Cruscan  academicians  in  their  dictionary,  and  to  coun- 
teract the  prejudices  of  the  too  rigorous  adherents  of  the  old 
school,  and  the  bold  dogmas  of  licentious  innovators.  It  is 
thought  that  in  this  work,  the  offspring  of  his  cooler  reflection, 
and  directed  to  aims  more  useful,  he  will  avoid  those  inaccu- 
racies of  haste  and  passion  which  disfigured  his  previous  per- 
formances, and  degraded  them  into  mere  personal  controver- 


280 

Bies.  An  exception  should  be  made  in  favour  of  two  or  three 
discourses,  published  when  he  was  professor  at  Pavia,  One 
of  them  is  much  praised,  and  perhaps  not  a  little  owing  to 
the  subject  of  which  it  treats,  namely,  Of  the  scientific  disco- 
veries which  foreigners  have  usurped  to  themselves,  in  prejudice 
of  the  Italian  inventors,  Monti  showed  his  patriotism  in  this 
treatise,  but  much  could  not  be  said  of  his  knowledge  or  of 
his  equity.  Even  his  eloquence  was  more  lively  than  vigor- 
ous. He  threw  down  his  glove  in  defiance  of  all  foreigners, 
but  more  especially  of  the  French,  and  was  backed  by  his 
countrymen,  who  have  fallen  into  the  absurdity  of  depre- 
ciating the  present  merit  of  other  nations,  by  comparing  it 
with  the  past  glories  of  their  ancestors. 

Monti  has  never  been  wise  enough  to  laugh  at  silly  criti- 
cisms, nor  was  he  ever  known  to  spare  a  powerless  adversa- 
ry. Having  been  rudely  attacked,  he  has  always  defended 
himself  rudely.  He  seems  to  have  looked  upon  a  censure  of 
his  writings  as  an  obstacle  thrown  maliciously  in  the  way  of 
his  fortune,  hi  this  temper  he  told  the  Abate  Bettinelli,  "  It 
is  not  the  poet  that  these  people  roant  to  attack;  no,  it  is  the 
historiographer  of  J\''apoleon  ;  and  they  conspire  to  make  me 
appear  in  his  eyes  a  contemptible  writer,'''^* 

He  tried,  therefore,  to  persuade  the  court  and  the  ministers 
to  prosecute  his  adversaries  :  but  it  should  be  told,  that  he 
employed  the  same  inlluence  in  the  promotion  of  his  friends. 
Towards  them  Monti  is  truly  the  warmest  and  the  most  de- 
voted of  men,  and  is  ready  for  every  generous  sacrifice  as  long 
as  he  feels  assured  that  he  has  no  reason  to  suspect  the  loyalty 
of  their  attachment. 

His  violent  literary  disputes  with  his  distinguished  cotem- 
poraries,  with  Mazza,  Cesarotti,  and  Bettinelli,  have  all  ter- 
minated by  a  solicitation  of  their  friendship :  and  he  has  not 
refused  to  restore  his  confidence  to  others  who,  having  griev- 
ously offended  him,  have  entreated  to  be  reconciled.  It  has 
happened  to  him  to  quarrel  with,  and  to  pardon,  the  same  in- 
dividual several  times. 

The  habit  of  writing  on  temporary  topics  may  explain, 
perhaps,  the  care  which  he  takes  to  acquire  renown  by  efforts 

*  Lettera  all'  Abate  Bettinelli,  Milano,  1809. 


281 

which,  in  the  end,  frequently  terminate  in  the  loss  of  it.  He 
is  afraid  of  the  very  newspaper  writers,  and  is  ambitious  of 
their  suffrages.  He  keeps  up  a  regular  correspondence  with 
all  the  men  of  letters  in  Italy,  and  barters  with  them  the 
usual  commodity  of  mutual  adulation.  He  is,  however,  sin- 
cere enough  with  those  young  writers  who  ask  his  advice,  and 
contrives  to  encourage  them  without  flattery,  and  to  instruct 
them  without  arrogance.  He  repeats  verses  inimitably  :  he 
is  eloquent  in  his  conversation,  which  is  generally  of  the 
softer  kind  ;  but  the  slightest  contradiction  provokes  him  to 
a  vehement  defence  of  positions  which  he  abandons  the  next 
day  with  perfect  indifference. 

It  is  probable  that  the  inconstancy,  as  well  as  the  momen- 
tary eagerness  of  certain  individuals,  is  to  be  attributed  less 
to  education  than  to  nature.  The  life  of  Dryden  can  scarce- 
ly be  compared  in  a  single  instance  with  that  of  Monti ;  nor 
is  the  poetry,  nor  even  the  character  of  the  English  laureate 
at  all  similar  to  that  of  the  Italian.  The  above  disgraceful 
quality  they  have,  however,  in  common  with  each  other. 
Both  of  them  have  degraded  the  literature  to  which  they 
owe  their  fame,  by  making  it  subservient  to  their  private  in- 
terests, at  the  expense  of  truth  and  of  honour.  Both  of 
them  have  been  systematic  flatterers  of  the  powerful  and  the 
great,  and  both  of  them  have  wanted  the  requisite  consola- 
tions of  old  age. 

Monti  had  pursued  the  Austrians  with  the  war  of  words, 
after  each  of  their  repeated  defeats.  When  they  re-appeared 
as  conquerors,  they  deprived  him  of  almost  all  his  pensions  . 
but  they  bargained  at  the  same  time  for  a  cantata  from  his 
pen,  which  was  set  to  music  and  sung  in  the  theatre,  to  wel- 
come their  ruturn  to  Italy.  It  is  neither  a  hazardous  nor  a 
severe  reflection  to  assert,  that  this  poet  must  lookback  with 
feelings  of  bitter  regret  upon  sixty  years  of  laborious  and 
brilliant  exertions,  which  are  about  to  end  for  ever;  and 
which  have  left  him  in  the  enjoyment  neither  of  an  indepen- 
dent fortune  nor  of  a  spotless  reputation  ;  nor  of  those  fixed 
principles,  without  the  possession  of  which  no  one  can,  with- 
out trembling,  dare  to  contemplate  the  close  of  his  career. 


282 

A  splendid  example  and  a  warning  for  an  apostate  genera- 
tion— 

Petite  hinc  juvenesque  senesque 
Finem  animo  certum,  miserisque  viatica  canie. 

HUGO  FOSCOLO. 

When  the  revolution  of  1795  gave  a  shock  to  principles 
for  ages  established  in  Italy,  and  set  in  motion  the  spirits  and 
the  interests  of  the  inhabitants  of  every  province,  the  writers 
before  mentioned  had  all  of  them  published  those  works 
which  gave  them  a  fixed  reputation  with  their  countrymen. 

Hugo  Foscolo  was  at  that  time  a  youth,  but  not  too  young 
to  profit  by  the  friendship  and  the  example  of  his  distinguish- 
ed cotemporaries.  The  total  change  in  the  political  condi- 
tion of  his  country,  his  military  education,  and  the  part  which 
he  played  in  public  affairs,  developed  however  his  talents,  and 
formed  his  character,  in  a  manner  quite  different  from  that  of 
his  predecessors  :  besides,  the  circumstances  under  which  he 
wrote  arrived  too  late  to  form  their  style  ;  and  being  now 
gone  by,  may  perhaps  require  a  course  of  ages  to  reproduce. 

Foscolo  laid  it  down  for  a  principle,  that  Italian  poetry  had 
expired  with  Tasso,  and  had  been  re-resuscitated  only  in  the 
present  day.  Hear  his  own  words — "  Senza  I'Ossian  del  Ce- 
sarotti,  II  Giorno  del  Parini,  Vittorio  Alfieri,  e  Vincenzo 
Monti,  la  nostra  poesia  si  giacerebbe  tuttavia  sepolta  con  le 
ceneri  di  Torquato  Tasso.  Da  indi  in  qua  un  secola  la  inor- 
pello,  e  1'  altro  la  immiseri.  L'  Ossian  puo  far  dare  nello 
strano  ;  il  Parini  nel  leccato  ;  I'Alfieri  nell'  aspro ;  e  il  Monti 
nell'  ornato  :  ma  le  umane  virtii  non  fruttano  senza  I'innesto 
d''un  vizio.  I  grandi  ingegni  emuleranno  :  i  mezzani  scimiot- 
terrano  :  e  coloro  che  esplorano  i  propri  meriti  nelle  altrui 
colpe,  si  getteranno  simili  a  corvi  sovra  le  piaghe  de'  gene- 
rosi  cavalli." 

This  passage,  extracted  from  his  Preface  to  an  experiment 
for  translating  the  Iliad,  printed  at  Brescia  in  1807,*  may 
§erve  for  a  specimen  of  his  style  and  of  his  literary  opinions. 

*  Esperimento  di  traduzione  dell'  Iliade. 


283 

He  commenced  his  career  a  year  before  the  fall  of  the  Ve- 
netian republic,  with  a  tragedy  called  Tkxjestes.  Being  angry 
at  the  little  attention  paid  by  the  Venetians  to  the  tragedies 
of  Alfieri,  and  the  corrupted  taste  which  made  them  prefer 
and  applaud  those  of  the  Marquis  Pindemonte  and  of  Count 
Pepoli,  he  resolved  that  his  drama  should  have  only  four 
personages ;  and  that  the  simplicity  and  severity  of  his  whole 
composition  should  rival  Alfieri  and  the  Greek  tragedians. 
With  this  hardy  project,  he  contrived  that  his  play  should  be 
acted  on  the  same  night  when  two  new  pieces  from  the  pen 
of  the  above  Marquis  and  Count  were  to  be  represented  at 
other  theatres  of  the  same  town.  The  courage  and  the 
youth  of  the  author  enabled  him  to  triumph  over  his  rivals, 
and  his  Thyestes  received  more  applause  than  perhaps  it  de- 
served. The  actors  pubhshed  it  in  the  tenth  volume  of  the 
"  Teatro  Italiano  Applaudito,''''  subjoining  to  it  an  account  of 
its  great  success,  and  a  criticism  written  in  favour  of  the 
author.  Foscolo  himself  adopted  the  extraordinary  proceed- 
ing of  publishing  a  severe  censure  of  his  own  work,  the  suc- 
cess of  which  he  attributed  solely  to  its  conformity  with  the 
great  models  of  antiquity.  The  pamphlet  was  ill  received  by 
the  public,  and  the  Venetians  painted  the  portrait  of  the 
young  poet  in  the  drop  curtain  of  the  Fenice  Theatre, 
amongst  those  who  had  a  better  claim  to  this  distinction.  The 
Thyestes  is  still  occasionally  acted,  and  is  sustained  by  the 
warmth  of  the  dialogue,  and  the  strength  of  the  dramatic 
passions,  but  the  style  is  so  harsh  as  to  be  insupportable  to 
the  reader. 

The  learned  of  Italy  speak  neither  well  nor  ill  of  the  Let- 
ters of  Ortis,  which,  however,  has  been  more  fi'equently  re- 
printed in  his  own  country  than  any  other  of  Foscolo's  works, 
and  is  certainly  much  more  known  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Alps.  The  Germans  have  exhausted  upon  this  little  book 
all  the  metaphysics  of  criticism  :  they  have  translated  it 
twice ;  and  a  certain  professor  Luden  has  accompanied  hii 
version  with  a  whole  volume  of  dissertations.  After  all,  it 
is  but  an  imitation  of  Wcrter.  There  is  however  this  strik- 
ing difference,  that  the  object  of  the  Itahan  is  solely  politi- 
cal.    There  is  indeed  something  for  all  tastes  in  the  pohtics, 

36 


284 

*nd  the  poetiy,  and  the  love  of  Ortis.  The  allusions  to  the 
downfal  of  the  Venetian  republic,  and  the  introduction  of 
living  interlocutors,  such  as  Parini  at  Milan,  give  a  reality  to 
the  fable  which  must  be  highly  interesting  to  the  Italians,  and 
is  attractive  even  to  strangers.  There  is  a  melancholy  pa- 
triotism in  every  word  in  which  he  mentions  Italy,  that  makes 
the  author  respectable  in  the  eyes  of  every  generous  reader. 
There  are  some  pictures  of  small  objects  that  evince  a  con- 
siderable knowledge  of  the  human  heart,  and  are  extremely 
affecting.  The  little  dog  of  the  lady  who  falls  in  love  with 
Ortis  may  be  mentioned  as  one.  The  author  is  in  his  proper 
element  when  he  breaks  forth  into  his  ethical  reflections  :  how 
truly  he  says,  "  That  we  are  too  proud  to  give  our  compas- 
sion when  we  feel  we  can  give  nothing  else." 

The  love  of  Ortis  is,  perhaps,  the  least  interesting  portion 
of  the  work  5  there  is  not  importance  enough  attached  to  his 
existence,  to  make  it  natural  that  so  much  importance  should 
be  attached  to  his  end.  It  was  difficult,  perhaps,  to  give 
many  attractions  to  the  adventures  of  an  obscure  politician  ; 
but  it  is  still  possible  that  those  of  an  age  and  sex  more  ac- 
cessible to  the  tender  feelings  may  be  touched  by  the  mis- 
fortunes and  the  heroic  despair  of  the  Italian  Werter.  But 
Ortis  may  boast  of  having  been  the  first  book  that  induced 
the  females  and  the  mass  of  readers  to  interest  themselves  in 
public  affairs.  This  was  a  mighty  exploit  in  a  country  where 
one  maxim  had  been  for  ages  the  ground-work  of  education 
for  all  classes  of  society,  De  Deo  parum,  de  Principe  nihil. 
It  is  difficult  at  this  day  to  find  in  Italy  an  edition  of  the  Let- 
ters of  Ortis  altogether  exempt  from  those  mutilations  which 
the  revisers  of  one  kind  or  another  have  inflicted  on  this  ro- 
mance. In  spite,  however,  of  all  their  prudent  efforts,  it 
has  been  found  impossible  to  emasculate  every  page  which 
launches  forth  invectives  against  the  corruption  of  the  old 
government,  against  the  foreign  usurpation  of  the  new,  and 
lastly  against  the  treachery  with  which  the  French  general 
bought  and  sold  the  republic  of  Venice. 

Chiari  and  Piazza,  and  other  common  writers,  had  before 
published  some  hundreds  of  romances,  which  had  been  the 
delight  only  of  the  vulgar  reader ;  for   those  of  a  more  re- 


285 

fined  taste  had  resorted  to  the  foreign  novels.  The  Letters 
of  Ortis  is  the  only  work  of  the  kind,  the  boldness  of  whose 
thoughts,  and  the  purity  of  whose  language,  combined  with 
a  certain  easy  style,  have  suited  it  to  the  taste  of  every 
reader.  It  cannot  be  too  often  remarked,  that  it  is  princi- 
pally the  style  which  in  all  works  attracts  the  admiration  of 
the  Italians  ;  and  it  may  here  be  mentioned,  that  their  critics 
have  laid  it  down  as  a  rule,  that  the  elements  of  their  prose 
are  to  be  collected  only  in  the  period  between  Dante  and 
Machiavelli.     This  is  the  opinion  of  Alfieri.* 

Foscolo  has  followed  this  rule  in  his  Ortis,  and  more  scru- 
pulously still  in  the  Sentimental  Journey,  which  he  has  tran- 
slated with  the  words  and  phrases  of  the  fourteenth  century ; 
not,  however,  to  the  prejudice  of  the  conversational  ease  of 
our  Yorick.  This  work,  so  popular  in  all  foreign  countries, 
had  been  twice  before  translated  into  Italian  ;  but  the  tor- 
pidity of  their  style,  and  their  repeated  Gallicisms,  had  con- 
signed these  preceding  versions  to  contempt.  Focolo  pub- 
lished his  translation  under  the  name  of  Didimo  Chierico : 
and  in  one  of  his  many  notes  he  gives  us  the  following  re- 
marks on  his  native  language.  "  Le  dontie  gentiti  insegnarono 
al  Parroco  Yorick,  e  ame  suo  Chierico,  a  sent  ire,  e  quindi  a  par- 
lare  men  rozzamente  ;  cd  io  per  gratitudine  aggiungero  questo 
avviso  per  esse.  La  lingua  Italiano  e  un  bel  metallo  che  bisogna 
ripulire  della  ruggine  delP  antichita,  e  depurare  della  falsa 
lega  della  moda  ;  e  poscia  batterlo  genuine  in  guisa  che  ognuno 
possa  riceverlo  e  spend erlo  con  Jiducia,  e  dargli  tal  conio  che  paja 
nuovo  e  nond,imeno  tutti  sappiano  ravvisarlo.  Ma  i  letterati 
vostri  non  raccattano  dagli  antichi  se  non  se  il  rancidume^  e  gli 
scienziaii  vi  parlano  franciosamente.  1  primi  tion  hanno  mentr, 
gli  altri  non  hanno  cuore  ;  e  per  quanti  idiomi  e'' si  sappiano, 
jion  avranno  mai  stile. 

The  preponderance  of  French  power  during  the  reign  of 
Louis  XIV.  and  even  in  that  of  Louis  XV.,  had  infected  the 
Italian  language  with  an  infinity  of  French  phrases  and  idioms. 
The  consciousness  of  the  extreme  corruption  induced  by  the 
revolution  has  given  rise  to  a  zealous  spirit  of  reform,  which 

*  See  his  answer  to  Calsabigi,  in  the  edition  of  his  tragedies  by  Didol, 


286 

has  itself  degenerated  into  a  superstitious  worship  of  the 
ancients,  and  has  rather  augmented  than  diminished  the  h- 
censc  of  the  opposite  writers.  We  consequently  find  many 
works  composed  solely  of  phrases  almost  or  entirely  obsolete, 
and  distinguished  neither  for  the  energy  of  the  old  writers,  nor 
for  the  ease  of  the  new.  Others,  and  they  are  the  majority, 
terrified  by  the  study  of  a  language,  the  abundance  of  whose 
words,  and  the  variety  of  whose  combinations,  render  it  al- 
most insuperable,  affect  the  sort  of  style  now  so  common 
throughout  Europe,  which  they  are  pleased  to  call  philosophi- 
cal, and  which,  in  fact,  is  but  a  jargon  neither  Itahan  nor 
French,  but  a  bad  mixture  of  both. 

If,  therefore,  good  writers  are  rare  in  all  countries,  they 
are  more  especially  so  in  Italy  ;  for  they  have  to  connect  the 
generic  characteristics  constantly  inherent  for  five  centuries 
in  the  Italian  language,  with  the  specific  characteristics  of 
their  own  times  ;  and  this  amalgamation,  not  depending  upon 
any  fixed  rules,  must  be  contrived  solely  by  the  individual 
talents  of  each  author.  This  accounts  for  the  surprising  di- 
versity which  foreigners  are  apt  to  observe  in  the  manner  of 
writing  employed  by  the  various  authors  of  the  same  age ; 
and  perhaps  this  same  diversity  is  more  remarkable  in  the 
prose  of  Foscolo  than  of  other  writers.  The  Italian  author 
also  makes  it  an  article  of  faith  to  vary  his  style  according  to 
his  subject.  Thus  there  is  no  less  a  difference  between  the 
letters,  the  romances,  and  the  orations,  than  between  the 
history  and  the  epic  or  lyric  poetry  of  these  varied  composi- 
tions. The  Ortis  and  the  Sentimental  Journey  resemble 
each  other  very  Httle  :  notwithstanding  that  the  author  has 
followed  the  same  rules  of  composition,  and  has  always  pre- 
served the  traits  peculiar  to  his  style.  As  for  his  Discourse 
for  the  Congress  of  Lyons^  it  appears  evidently  written  by 
the  same  man,  but  iiva  different  language. 

He  wrote  this  Discourse  at  the  injunction  of  his  government, 
when  Buonaparte,  in  the  year  1801,  convoked  at  Lyons  the 
Notables  of  the  Cisalpine  RepubUc.  The  directions  given  to 
the  orator  were  to  pronounce  a  panegyric ;  but  Foscolo 
adopted  a  different  course.  He  presented  a  moving  picture 
of  the    wretched  state  of  the  laws,  of  the  armies,  of  the 


1^ 


287 

finances,  and  of  the  moral  condition  of  the  new  repubUc. 
The  sects,  both  old  and  new,  that  distracted  their  country — 
the  priests,  the  nobles,  the  democrats,  the  partisans  of  foreign 
usurpation,  the  adulatory  writers,  the  libelists,  the  defraudcrs 
of  the  public  revenue,  the  monopolists,  who  profited  by  the 
sale  of  the  national  property,  are  all  handled  with  the  sam« 
severity.  The  following  description  of  the  masters  of  the 
republic,  if  it  degrades  the  nation  in  one  respect,  exalts  it  on 
the  other  hand  ;  for  there  must  be  something  great  in  a  peo- 
ple which  can  produce  a  single  man  who  dares,  in  the  cause 
of  virtue,  to  paint  his  countrymen  in  such  colours. 

"  Uomini  nuovi  ci  governavano,  per  educazione  nh  politici,  ni 
guerrieri  {essenziali  doti  ne*  capi  delle  republiche)  ;  aniichi  schiavi, 
novelli  tiranni,  schiavi  pur  sempre  di  se  stessi  e  delle  circonstanze 
che  7ie  sapeano  ne  volcano  domare ;  fra  i pericoli  e  V  amor  del potere 
ondeggianti,  tutto  perplessamente  operavano  ;  regia  autoritd  era  in 
essi,  ma  per  inopia  di  coraggio  e  d''ingegno,  ne  violenii  ne  astuti ; 
conscj  de""  propri  vizj,  e  guindi  diffidenti,  discordi  addossantisi 
scambievoli  vituperj ;  datori  di  cariche,  e  palpati,  nan  temuti  :  alia 
plebe  esosi  come  potenti ;  e  come  imhecilli,  spregiati :  convennero 
conjatanza  di  publico  bene  e  Uridine  di  primeggiare  ma  ne  pensiero 
pure  di  onore ;  vili  con  gli  andaci,  audaci  coi  vili,  spegneano  It 
accuse  coi  benejicj  e  le  querele  con  le  minaccie;  e  per  la  sempre  im- 
minente  rovina,  di  oro  puntellati  con  la  fortuna,  di  brighe  con  i 
proconsoli,  e  di  tradimenti  con  i  principi  stranieriy 

The  chief  cause  of  this  general  depravity  he  attributes  to 
the  absence  of  Buonaparte  in  Egypt,  which  allowed  the 
French  Directory  to  tyrannize  over  Italy,  and  to  pillage  her 
provinces,  not  only  by  their  own  missions  and  generals,  but 
by  the  appointment  of  magistrates,  timid,  ignorant,  and  avar 
ricious,  some  of  whom  were  to  be  found  in  that  government 
which  had  assigned  to  Foscolo  the  pleasing  duties  of  pro- 
nouncing their  panegyric* 

The  praises  bestowed  by  the  orator  upon  the  hero  who  was 
to  remedy  their  national  wrongs,  magnificent  as  they  are  in 
some  respects,  are  still  associated  with  the  boldest  maxims, 
and  with  predictions  which  are  seldom  hazarded  in  the  hour 
of  victory.  With  what  satisfaction  may  Foscolo  now  look 
back  upon  the  following  prophetic  warning ! 

*  See  his  Dedication—"  Ai  Membri  del  comitato  del  Govemo." 


2Hii 

"  A  ciascuno  di  tuoi  pregi  la  sioria  contrappone  e  Tiberio  solenne 
politico,  e  Marco  Aurelio  Iinperadore  Jilosofo,  e  Papa  Leone  X. 
ospite  delle  letters.  Che  se  molti  di  questi  soinmi,  scarchi  non  vanno 
di  delitti,  uomini  e  mortali  erano  come  sei  tu,  e  non  le  speranze  o  il 
tremore  rfc'  contemporanei,  ma  la  irnperterrita  posterita  le  lor  sen- 
tenze  scriveva  su  la  lor  sepultura.  Infiniti  ed  illustri  esempj  hanno 
santijlcata  oramai  quella  massima  de^  sapienti  :  niun  uomo  doversi 
virtuoso  predicare  e  beato  anzi  la  morte." 

After  describing  the  distress  of  his  country,  the  speaker, 
who  calls  himself  Giovine  non  affatto  lihero,  proposes  certain 
remedies,  and  those  he  would  apply  not  only  to  Italy,  but  to 
maintain  the  renown  of  that  hero  whose  future  glory  he  de- 
clares to  depend  principally  on  the  durable  independence  of 
a  nation  which  he  had  rescued  from  the  slavery  and  disgrace 
of  ages.  Foscolo  afterwards  pubUshed  this  Discourse,  with 
the  following  motto  from  Sophocles  : — "  my  soul  groans  for 

MY  COUNTRY,  FOR  MYSELF,  AND  ALSO  FOR  THEE." 

This  discourse  is  not  more  than  eighty  pages  :  and  notwith- 
standing it  is  an  historical  composition,  maintains  a  certain 
impetuosity  and  gravity  of  style  which  overwhelm  and  fatigue 
the  attention.  The  events  are  hinted  at,  not  detailed  ;  the 
developement  concerns  only  their  causes  and  their  results. 
This  brevity  might  be  agreeable  to  those  who  had  been  spec- 
tators of,  or  actors  in,  the  short  and  transitory  scene ;  but 
foreign  readers,  and  even  those  Italians  removed  by  time  or 
place  from  the  original  action,  are  left  in  the  dark.  It  would 
be  difficult  to  prove  that  the  style  of  Tacitus,  which  Foscolo 
has  not  only  copied  but  exaggerated  with  the  devotion  of  a 
youth  enchanted  by  his  model,  can  be  well  adapted  to  this 
sort  of  composition.  The  English,  who  have  perhaps  run 
into  the  opposite  extreme,  will  be  astonished  to  hear  that  this 
Discourse  was  particularly  esteemed  by  the  critics,  on  ac- 
count of  its  close  resemblance  to  the  Latin.  We  should  call 
this  pedantry  :  but  it  appears  a  meritorious  exploit  in  the  eyes 
of  a  nation,  which,  havinoj  for  two  hundred  years  diluted  its 
language  to  insipidity,  now  lays  it  down  for  a  maxim,  that  for 
the  graces  of  style,  the  early  Tuscan  authors  are  to  be  con- 
sulted ;  and  for  the  strength,  and,  if  the  word  may  be  used, 
the  nobility,  of  the  language,  the  Latins  are  the  only  safe 


289 

model.  It  must  be  confessed,  that  the  origin  of  the  language 
admits  of  this  union.  It  is  not  unnatural  that  when  they 
would  discourse  of  liberty,  they  should  have  recourse  to  the 
manner  of  their  Roman  ancestors. 

Buonaparte,  at  the  congress  of  Lyons,  changed  the  name 
of  the  Cisalpine  into  that  of  the  Italian  Republic.  He  ap- 
pointed himself  president  of  this  new  state,  and  promulgated 
a  constitution  which  he  continued  to  violate  at  will  up  to  the 
other  change  which  converted  the  Republic  into  a  Kingdom, 
and  placed  the  administration  of  Upper  Italy  in  the  hands  of 
a  French  viceroy.  The  only  effect  of  Foscolo's  discourse 
was  to  stop  his  own  military  promotion :  but  the  loss  of  for- 
tune was  more  than  compensated  by  the  public  gratitude, 
which  pointed  to  him  as  the  man  who  had  spoken  the  sense 
of  the  people,  who  had  told  the  courageous  truth,  and  had 
stood  forward  as  the  champion  of  national  independence.  It 
seems,  however,  that  he  continued  in  the  army  some  time 
after  this  effort.  The  date  of  the  preface  to  his  Sentimental 
Journey  shows  that  he  was,  in  1805,  at  Calais  with  one  of  the 
Italian  regiments  which  Buonaparte  had  united  to  his  Army  of 
England.  His  dedication  of  the  works  of  Montecuculi,  pub- 
lished in  1803  and  1809,  which  is  addressed  to  General  Caffa- 
relli,  minister  of  war  of  the  Italian  kingdom,  tells  us  that  he 
was  aid-de-camp  to  that  officer. 

Foscolo  published  his  edition  of  Montecuculi  in  two  vo- 
lumes, in  folio,  from  the  manuscripts  discovered  in  the  ar- 
chives of  the  last  Prince  Trivulzio,  by  Serassi,  the  biographer 
of  Tasso  ;  and  more  recently,  by  other  inquirers.  These  manu- 
scripts were  more  complete  than  those  of  the  old  incorrect 
edition,  made  just  after  the  death  of  the  author,  which  had 
never  been  reprinted,  and  was  so  much  forgotten  that  Monte- 
cuculi was  known  only  throughout  the  French  and  German 
translations.  The  object  of  Foscolo  was  more  than  literary: 
he  wished,  by  the  example  and  precepts  of  an  illustrious  fel- 
low-citizen, to  inspire  the  Italians  with  a  portion  of  his  mar- 
tial spirit,  as  well  as  to  replace  the  author  in  his  due  rank 
amongst  the  best  classical  writers.  He  placed  Montecuculi 
by  the  side  of  Machiavelli,  and  the  compressed  commanding 
style  of  the  great  rival  of  Turennc  facilitated  the  labours  of 


290 

his  editor  in  filling  up  the  many  blanks  of  the  manuscript. 
Foscolo  was  commended  for  these  supplements,  and  for  his 
happy  imitation  of  the  original  style;  but  he  was  accused  of 
having  been  too  licentious  in  his  emendations  of  the  text.* 

Montecuculi  wrote  his  commentaries  and  his  military 
aphorisms  when  the  use  of  artillery  was  but  imperfectly 
known,  and  when  a  great  part  both  of  the  infantry  and  cavalry 
fought  with  pikes  and  halberds,  and  the  principal  object  of 
every  war  was  the  attack  and  defence  of  fortified  towns.  Fos- 
colo illustrated  his  author  with  notes  of  two  kinds  ;  some  of 
them  consisting  of  passages  from  the  classics,  serving  to  show 
the  Greek  and  Roman  art  of  war,  and  the  others  relating  to 
the  system  of  Frederic  II.  and  of  Napoleon.  By  this  plan 
the  editor  meant  to  apply  each  precept  of  Montecuculi  to  the 
three  principal  epochs  in  the  history  of  military  art :  the  an- 
cient, the  middle,  and  the  modern  period.  To  each  volume 
he  subjoined  dissertations  written  with  precisely  the  same  ob- 
ject :  he  calls  Napoleon  il  maggiore  guerriero  delle  eta  moder- 
ne,  an  eulogium  which  must  be  allowed  far  from  extravagant, 
at  the  time  that  the  two  senates  of  France  and  of  Italy  de- 
clared him  the  Thunderer  of  the  Earth,  ("  Jupiter  foudroyant 
sur  la  terre,")  and  all  the  kings  of  Europe  confessed  the  title 
to  be  fairly  earned  and  duly  bestowed. 

The  Viceroy  Eugene  had  about  this  time  won  a  battle  of  no 
great  importance,  against  the  Archduke  John,  in  Hungary. 
The  French  chose  to  exalt  this  victory  to  a  parallel  with  that 
of  Montecuculi,  who  after  two  years  of  perseverance,  and 
with  an  army  of  seven  thousand  men,  had  defeated  seventy 
thousand  Turks  at  a  time  when  they  were  yet  formidable  in 
the  field  ;  this  was  at  the  famous  battle  of  San  Gothard.  The 
bulletins  observed  that  the  Viceroy  had  been  victorious  on  the 
same  spot  already  illustrated  by  the  exploits  of  Montecuculi, 
and  had  rivalled  the  skilful  manoeuvres  of  the  Italian  marshal. 
Foscolo  devotes  one  of  his  dissertations  to  refute  this  enco- 
mium, and  proves  that  neither  the  circumstances,  nor  the  po- 
sition, nor  the  place  were  the  same  ;  and   he  concludes  by 

*  Ha  supplito  alle  lacune  con  lo  stile  del  Monttcucoli  :  ma  Montecucolt 
nel  propria  testo  parla  spesso  con  lo  stile  di  Foseolo.  See — Giornale  della 
Societa  d'  Incorrajgiarnento,  ao.  1809. 


291 

insinuating  that  such  exaggerations  might  be  injurious  to  the 
merit  actually  acquired  by  the  Viceroy. 

Foscolo  was  now  sent  as  professor  of  literature  to  Pavia, 
to  replace  Monti,  who  had  been  appointed  historiographer. 
The  new  professor  opened  his  course  of  lectures  by  an  essay 
on  the  Origin  and  the  duties  of  Literature,*  It  was  his  grand 
position,  that  "  as  society  could  neither  be  formed  originally, 
nor  afterwards  kept  together,  except  by  the  use  of  words, 
every  abuse  of  this  distinctive  human  faculty  must  tend  ne- 
cessarily to  the  corruption  of  all  social  ties.  Consequently, 
that  the  men  of  letters,  being  especially  endowed  with  the 
power  pf  words,  are  traitors  to  their  duty  whenever  they  ne- 
glect by  their  writings  to  excite  the  generous  passions,  to  de- 
monstrate useful  truths,  to  add  charms  to  virtue,  and  to  di- 
rect the  public  opinions  to  the  promotion  of  national  pros- 
perity." 

He  goes  on  to  place  his  men  of  letters  as  independent  me- 
diators between  the  government  which  applies  to  force  alone, 
and  has  a  natural  tendency  to  despotism,  and  the  people,  who 
have  no  less  a  natural  inclination  towards  licentiousness  and 
slavery.  He  looks  for  the  proof  of  these  principles  in  the 
history  of  all  nations  ;  and  the  more  he  exults  in  the  utility 
of  literature,  the  more  he  declaims  against  the  vanity  and  the 
baseness  both  of  those  who  sell  their  abilities  to  a  tyrant,  and 
of  those  who  employ  tKem  in  administering  to  the  odious 
passions  and  the  capricious  follies  of  the  multitude.  It  was 
an  old  and  constant  practice  in  Italy  to  insert  an  eulogy  of 
the  actual  government  in  the  opening  discourses  of  every 
professor.  Foscolo  departed  from  this  ceremony,  and  sub- 
joined a  note,  saying,  "  that  it  belongs  to  history  alone  to  speak 
in  a  becoming  manner  of  great  sovereignsj^^  He  then  cited  a 
decree  of  Augustus  Caesar,  which  forbad  the  small  poets  and 
orators  to  disgrace  his  name  by  their  ephemeral  praises. 

The  professorships  of  literature  not  only  at  Pavia,  but  also 
at  Bolognat  and  Padua,  were  forthwith  suppressed  by  the 

*  Deir  Origine  e  deU'Ufficio  della  Letteratura.— Milano,  1809. 

t  On  this  occasion  the  celebrated  Mezzophanti,  professor  of  Oriental 
languages,  and  the  most  extraordinary  linguist  in  existence,  was  deprired 
of  his  chair,  and  reduced  to  an  income  of  750  franaa. 

37 


292 

government.  Many  other  professorships  underwent  the  same 
fate ;  namely,  those  for  the  Greek  and  for  the  Oriental  lan- 
guages, for  history,  for  the  knowledge  of  medals,  and,  in 
short,  for  all  those  branches  of  study  not  strictly  belonging  to 
medicine,  to  jurisprudence,  and  to  the  mathematics.  Foscolo 
retained  his  chair  only  two  months  ;  and  about  twenty-four 
other  professors,  who  had  not  involved  themselves  in  the  guilt 
of  preaching  his  principles,  were  also  deprived  of  their 
emoluments,  after  many  years  of  literary  labour.  It  would 
be  hazardous  to  say  whether  the  discourse  of  Foscolo  pro- 
voked this  measure,  or  whether  it  had  been  some  time  in 
agitation,  but,  at  all  events,  the  Italians  Avere  struck  with  the 
verification  of  the  words  of  their  own  Alfieri,  who  had  told 
them  that  absolute  monarchs  hate  the  historian,  and  the  poet, 
and  the  orator,  and  give  preference  to  the  sciences.*  Perhaps 
it  may  not  be  uncharitable  to  add,  that  the  scientific,  com- 
pared with  the  literary  writers  of  every  nation,  repay  with 
corresponding  submission  the  partiality  of  royal  patronage. 

Padua,  Pavia,  and  Bologna,  beheld  the  sudden  decline  of 
the  institutions,  which  had  been  the  ancient  ornament  of  their 
towns.  Four  and  twenty  lyceums  were  founded  in  the  re- 
spective departments  of  the  Kingdom,  with  the  pretext  of 
reinstating  some  of  the  professors  ejected  from  the  three 
universities  ;  but  it  was  impossible  to  find  a  sufficient  number 
of  learned  individuals,  or  adequate  salaries  for  all  these  es- 
tablishments, in  every  branch  of  science  and  of  literature  j 
and  the  consequence  of  this  dispersion,  as  well  as  of  the 
multiplied  foundations,  was,  that  the  place  of  professor  was 
degraded  from  those  high  privileges  and  that  respectability  of 
character  which  had  made  it  for  centuries  an  object  oi  Italian 
ambition. 

The  Cavalier  Lamberti,  a  declared  adversary  of  this  wri- 
ter, and  one  of  those  before  alluded  to,  who  possess  the  re- 
putation of  great  scholars,  examining  the  works  of  Foscolo, 
calls  them,  tmehrose  per  certo  stile  lorproprio  di  oscurite  miste- 
riosa  e  cZ'  idee  affollate  e  appena    acceymate,  a  d''    eloquenza 

*  See  the  article  on  Alfieri. 


293 

compressa  sdegnosamente  ;  quasi  che  questo  autore  non  voglla 
per  leitori  che  i  suoi  pari.^' 

Hippolitus  Pindemonte  reproaches  him  with  the  same  de- 
fect, but  in  the  tone  more  of  a  poet  than  a  critic,  and  less  of 
a  censor  than  of  a  friend.  "  Your  style,"  he  says,  "  resem- 
bles the  Rhone,  which  flows  rapidly  from  the  limpid  lake  of 
Geneva,  and  is  lost  under  the  Alps,  to  the  regret  of  the 
traveller,  who  knows  not  how  it  has  disappeared,  and  who 
finds  himself  obliged  to  wander  on  for  some  distance  before 
he  again  beholds  its  azure  current,  and  hears  the  sound  of  its 
rapid  stream. "t  The  political  topics  which  have  been  gene- 
rally selected  for  the  subject  of  his  performances,  have,  per- 
haps, induced  this  writer  to  leave  us  to  guess  that  which  he 
did  not  like  to  say  openly.  It  is,  however,  equally  true  that 
the  constant  intensity  of  thought  which  he  requires  of  his 
readers  must  be  traced  either  to  the  peculiar  mode  in  which 
his  ideas  are  originally  conceived,  or  to  his  wish  to  give  them 
a  new  turn. '  Indeed  all  his  writings  bear  the  mark  of  medita- 
tion, although  much  forethought  cannot  be  discovered  in  his 
familiar  conversation,  in  which  he  gives  a  loose  to  all  his 
ideas  as  they  first  present  themselves.  A  literary  lady  has 
described  him  as  parlatore  felicissimo  e  fecondoX,  and  this  co- 
pious eloquence  is  accompanied  with  an  incessant  agitation  of 
limb  and  body  ;  which,  however,  is,  when  he  harangues  in 
public,  converted  into  an  absolute  inactivity.  It  is  told  of 
him  that  he  has  spoken  for  hours  at  the  councils  of  war  with 
his  hands  fixed  on  the  back  of  a  chair,  without  indulging  in 
the  slightest  action. 

This  fact,  incredible  as  it  may  be  to  such  as  have  seen  Mr. 
Foscolo  only  in  private  society,  will  not  be  lost  upon  those 
who  please  themselves  with  discriminating  between  the  differ- 
ent modes  of  intellectual  exertion,  and  who  will  be  obliged  to 
account  for  so  singular  a  discrepancy  by  recollecting  that 
Foscolo  may  have  deliberately  preferred  this  motionless  elo- 
quence.    The  truth  is,  as  we  find  in  his  Discourse  upon  Litera- 

*  See — in  the  Milanese  Review — the  Poli|rrafo,  tho  articles  signed  Y. 
f  See — Piadenionte's  epistit-  in  verse  add;  i  ^^^^ed  to  Hugo  Foscolo. 
t  Ritratti  scritta  dalla  Contesea  Isabella  Albnzzi. 


294 

ture,  that  he  decries  the  quackery  of  the  latter  orators  of 
Athens  by  praising  the  more  ancient  speakers,  who  harangued 
in  the  manner  of  Pericles,  wrapped  up  in  their  clamys,  with- 
out gesture  or  melody  :  Peroravano  avvolti,  alV  uso  di  Perichj 
nella  clatnide,  senza  gesto  ne  melodia. 

The  published  poetry  of  this  writer  is  confined  to  two  odes, 
and  a  little  work  called  /  Sepolcri,  written  when  it  was  for- 
bidden to  bury  the  dead  in  family  tombs. 

Pur  nuova  legge  impone  oggi  i  sepolcri 
Fuor  de'  guard!  pietosi,  e  il  nome  a'  morti 
Contende. 

According  to  the  provisions  of  this  new  law,  all  bodies,  with- 
out distinction,  were  to  be  interred  in  public  cemeteries 
without  the  towns,  and  the  size  of  the  sepulchral  stone  was 
prescribed,  and  the  epitaphs  were  subject  to  the  revision  and 
approval  of  the  magistrates.  The  aim  of  Foscolo  in  this 
poem  appears  to  be  the  proof  of  the  influence  produced  by 
the  memory  of  the  dead  on  the  manners  and  on  the  inde- 
pendence of  nations. 

It  may  be  sufficient  to  quote  a  specimen  which  will  be  more 
easily  understood  by  those  who  have  visited  the  church  of 
Santa  Croce  at  Florence. 

lo  quando  il  monumento 
Vidi  ove  posa  il  corpo  di  quel  grande 
Che  temprando  lo  scettro  o'  regnatori 
Gli  allor  ne  sfronda,  ed  alle  genti  svela 
Di  che  lagrime  grandi  e  di  che  sangue  ;* 
E  r  area  di  colui  che  nuovo  Olimpo 
Alz6  in  terra  a'  celesti  ;t  e  di  chi  vide 
Sotto.  V  etereo  padiglion  rotarsi 
PiU  mondi,  e  il  Sole  irradiarli  immoto,\ 
Onde  aW  Anglo  che  tanta  ala  vi  stese^ 
Sgombro  primo  le  vie  del  Firmamento ; 
Te  beata  .'  gridai,  per  lefelici 
Aure  pregne  divita,  e  pe''  lavacri 
Che  da  suoi  gioghi  a  te  versa  Apennino  : 

*  Machiavelli.  t  Michael  Angelo. 

1  Galileo.  k  Newton- 


295 

Lieta  delV  aer  tuo,  veste  la  Luna 

Di  luce  limpidissima  i  tuoi  colli 

Per  vendemmia  festanti  ;  e  le  convalli 

Pdpolate  di  case  e  d*  oliveti 

Mille  dijiori  al  del  mandano  incensi : 

E  tu prima,  Firenze,  udiviil  carme 

Che  allegro  V  ire  al  Ghibellin  fuggiasco  ;^ 

E  tu  i  cari  parenti  e  T  idioma 

Desti  a  quel  dolce  di  Calliope  labbro] 

Che  Amore  in  Grecia  nudo,  e  nudo  in  Romu 

jD'  un  velo  candidissimo  adomando 

Rendea  nel  grembo  a  Venere  Celeste. 

J\/Ia  pin  beata  che  in  un  tempio  accolte 

Serbi  le  hale  glorie  (ultime  forse .') 

Da  ch".  le  malvietate  Alpi  e  Valterna 

Onnipotenza  delle  umane  sorti 

Armiy  e  sostanze  t'  invadeano,  ed  are 

E  Patria,  e,  tranne  la  memoria,  tutto. 

This  poem  contains  only  three  hundred  lines,  but  it  called 
forth  pamphlets  and  criticisms  in  every  shape,  and  from  all 
quarters.  The  younger  writers  tried  to  imitate  it :  the  critics 
pronounced  it  to  have  brought  about  a  reform  in  the  lyrical 
poetry  of  Italy.  The  academy  of  Brescia  proposed  a  prize 
for  the  best  Latin  translation,  and  awarded  their  premium  to 
the  professor  Frederic  Borgno,  who  soon  after  published  his 
version  in  hexameters,  accompanied  with  a  dissertation,  a 
passage  of  which  may  be  quoted  to  show  the  tone  of  Italian 
criticism. 

"  It  is  the  business  of  lyrical  poetry,  properly  so  called,  to  present 
to  us  interesting  facts  so  as  to  excite  oiir  strongest  feelings,  and  to 
promulgate  those  opinions  which  tend  to  the  prosperity  of  nations. 
Any  ten  verses  which  do  not  furnish  the  painter  with  images  sufficient 
to  compose  an  historical  picture,  which  do  not  shake  the  soul  by  the 
noble  recollections  they  recal,  by  the  generous  passioiis  they  awaken, 
which  do  not  engrave  in  luminous  characters  some  useful  truth  upon 
the  mind — these  verses  may,  I  confess,  be  admirable  in  their  kind, 
but  they  do  not  belong  to  lyrical  poetry.  The  prophetic  portion  of 
the  Bible,  some  of  the  hymns  attributed  to  Homer,  Pindar,  Catulhis 
in  his  marriage  of  Peleus,  the  sixth  eclogue  of  Virgil,  the  episodes 

■^'  Dante.  t  Petrarch^ 


296 

in  the  Georgics,  a  dozen  of  the  odes  of  Horace,  six  of  the  canzoni  of 
Petrarch,  a  few  of  Chiabrera,  of  Guidi,  of  Filicaja,  those  of  Dry- 
den,  and  two  of  Gray,  are  really  lyrical.  All  the  other  poetry  of 
Petrarch,  and  of  those  called  lyrical,  may  be  justly  praised,  and 
may  charm  a  greater  number  of  readers  even  than  those  above  cited, 
but  it  is  necessary  to  adopt  the  ,division  of  Cicero,  in  his  distinction 
between  poetae  lyrici  et  melici.  Pindar  belongs  to  the  first ;  Sappho^ 
Anacreon,  and  Simonides,  to  the  second." 

The  Italians  are  fond  of  these  classifications,  and  indulge 
in  them  more  than  we  should  esteem  profitable  to  the  studj 
of  language.  But  it  is  also  true,  that  their  critics  seldom 
praise  even  their  favourite  aulliors  with  the  indiscriminate 
fury  of  our  eulogists.  Mr.  Borgno  subjoins  to  his  notice  of 
Chiabrera,  Guidi,  and  Filicaja,  a  list  of  exceptions  to  their 
merits  which  might  surprise  a  foreigner,  accustomed  to  think 
of  the  name,  rather  than  the  works  of  their  authors.  Ac- 
cording to  this  authority,  sonorous  words,  and  a  magnificence 
of  verse  and  of  phrase,  are  substituted  by  these  writers  for 
the  requisite  variety  of  harmony  and  of  imagery,  whilst  they 
are  totally  deficient  in  the  chiaroscuro  of  poetry,  and  have 
chosen  subjects  which  either  are  not  national,  or,  what  is  as 
bad,  are  totally  incapable  of  interesting  their  nation. 

Mr.  Borgno  quotes  other  poetical  works  of  Foscolo,  which 
appear  to  be  inihe  same  style,  and,  amongst  others,  his  Al- 
ceus,  which  describes  the  political  vicissitudes  of  Italian  po- 
etry from  the  fall  of  the  eastern  empire  to  the  present  day. 
He  alludes,  also,  to  The  Graces,  a  poem,  in  three  cantos. 
Both  the  one  and  the  other  are,  however,  inedited,  and  are 
known  only  by  some  fragments. 

The  blank  verses  of  Foscolo  are  totally  different  from 
those  of  any  other  author.  Each  verse  has  its  peculiar 
pauses  and  accents  placed  according  to  the  subject  described. 
His  melancholy  sentiments  move  in  a  slow  and  measured  pace, 
his  lively  images  bound  along  with  the  rapid  march  of  joy. 
Some  of  his  lines  are  composed  almost  entirely  of  vowels, 
others  almost  entirely  of  consonants ;  and  whatever  an  Eng- 
lishman may  think  of  this  imitation  of  sense  by  sound,  (a 
decried  effort  since  the  edict  of  Dr.  Johnson),  the  Italian 
poet  has  at  least  succeeded  in  giving  a  different  melody  to 
c^a,ch  verge,  and  in  varying  the  harmony  of  every  period. 


297 

It  is  perhaps  necessary  to  be  an  Italian  to  feel  the  full 
effect  of  these  combinations  ;  but  the  scholar  of  every  coun- 
try may  perceive  that  Foscolo  has  formed  himself  on  the 
Greek  model,  not  only  in  this  particular,  but  in  other  branches 
of  his  art.  In  fact  he  was  born  in  the  Ionian  islands,  as  he 
himself  tells  us  at  the  end  of  one  of  his  odes. 

"  Fra  1'  IsQie 
Che  col  selvoso  dorso 
Roinpono  agli  Euri,  e  al  grande  lonio  il  corso, 

Ehbi  in  quel  mar  la  culla : 
Ivi  erra  ignudo  spirito 
Di  Faon  la  Fanciulla  ; 
E  sejil  notturno  Zefiro 
Blaiido  sui  (lutti  spira 
Suonano  i  liti  un  lamentar  di  lira.*' 

Two  tragedies,  the  Ricciarda  and  the  Ajax,  by  the  same 
author,  were  stopped  by  the  government  after  the  first  repre- 
sentation. They  excited  a  great  curiosity  from  motives  not 
altogether  poetical.  It  was  reported  that  Moreau  was  his 
Ajax,  that  Napoleon  was  to  figure  in  his  Agamemnon,  and  that 
his  holiness  the  Pope  would  be  easily  recognised  in  Chalcas. 
The  known  principles  of  Foscolo  facilitated  the  recognition 
of  these  originals,  who,  after  all,  perhaps,  never  sat  to  the 
poet  for  their  likenesses.  Whatever  were  his  intentions,  he 
received  immediate  orders  to  quit  the  kingdom  of  Italy,  and 
to  reside  in  some  town  of  the  French  empire.  Pie  accord- 
ingly fixed  his  abode  at  Florence,  at  that  time  a  department 
of  France. 

Foscolo  has  lived  and  written  in  a  state  of  open  war  with 
the  writers  of  the  day,  and  the  reigning  political  parties.  It 
is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  he  has  been  severely  handled 
in  publications  of  every  kind,  and  particularly  in  the  journals, 
which  will  be  found  to  contain  imputations  against  him  not 
confined  to  his  literary  life.  He  was  never  personal  in  his 
first  attacks  •,  and  he  never  replied  to  the  personalities  of 
others.  He  even  affected  so  complete  a  contempt  for  them 
as  to  republish  and  distribute  some  of  the  libels  written 
against  himself.     Perhaps  he  is  not  aware  that  this  apparent 


298 

moderation  is  any  thing  rather  than  aproof  of  his  indiflference 
to  attack. 

In  England  these  demonstrations  of  contempt  would  be 
suspected,  and  would  be  ridiculous :  and  even  in  Italy  Mr. 
Foscolo  has  been  justly  charged  with  pushing  them  to  an  un- 
just exposure  of  men  who  were  the  most  disposed  to  be  his 
literary  friends  and  admirers.  He  published  nearly  300 
pages  in  large  octavo,  upon  the  translated  elegy  of  Catullus, 
De  Coma  Berenices  :  the  whole  lucubration  being  a  grave  and 
continued  irony  on  the  verbal  criticisms  of  the  commentators. 
Some  of  the  learned  fell  into  the  snare  ;  and  Foscolo,  who 
had  issued  only  a  few  copies,  now  added  a  Farewell  to  his 
readers,  in  which  he  repays  their  praises  by  exposing  the 
mysteries  and  the  abuses  of  the  philological  art.  Those 
whom  he  had  deceived  must  have  been  not  a  little  irritated 
to  find  that  his  frequent  citations  were  invented  for  the  occa- 
sion, and  that  his  commentary  had  been  purposely  sprinkled 
with  many  of  the  grossest  faults.  Neither  the  merit  nor  the 
success  of  such  a  pleasantry  can  be  intelligible  to  an  English 
reader  :  but  it  should  be  told  that  Foscolo,  with  the  same  pa- 
triotism which  seems  the  devouring  passion  of  his  soul,  con- 
trived this  deception  partly  to  warn  the  commentators  that  it 
was  their  duty  also,  as  well  as  that  of  other  writers,  to  devote 
themselves  to  the  excitement  of  generous  sentiments  in  the 
bosom  of  their  countrymen.* 

Foscolo  is  an  excellent  scholar :  his  knowledge  of  Greek 
is  far  superior  to  that  of  many  of  his  most  distinguished  fel- 
low-countrymen :  he  writes  Latin  with  facility  and  elegance. 
A  little  book  in  that  language,  called  Didymi  Clerici  ProphetcB 
Minimi  Hyperculypseos^  liber  singularis^  has  been  attributed, 
and,  it  is  believed,  justly,  to  his  pen.  It  appears  to  be  a  sa- 
tire against  the  journalists,  the  learned  pensioners  of  the 
court,  the  Royal  Institute,  and  the  senate  of  the  kingdom  of 
Italy  ;  but  it  is  an  enigma  from  beginning  to  end  to  any  one  not 
furnished  with  the  key  to  the  individual  allusions.  This  ob- 
scurity showed  at  least,  that  he  did  not  care  to  engage  the 

*  See — La  Chioma  di  Berenice,  Milano,  1803.  La  Bibliotheque  Ita- 
lianne,  a  French  review,  published  at  Turin,  and  11  Diario  Ilaliano  for  No- 
vember and  December  of  the  same  vear. 


299 

multitude  on  his  side,  and  that  he  was  indifferent  as  to  th« 
dispersion  of  his  own  feehngs  of  contempt  for  the  men  of 
letters  of  the  Itahan  court. 

The  lady  whose  opinions  have  been  before  quoted,  talks  of 
the  literary  intolerance  of  Foscolo  as  the  offspring  of  his  re- 
flection, not  of  his  disposition.  "  A  warm  friend,  but  sincere 
as  the  mirror  itself,  that  neither  deceives  nor  conceals.  Kind, 
generous,  grateful ;  his  virtues  appear  those  of  savage  nature, 
when  seen  in  the  midst  of  the  sophisticated  rcasoners  of  our 
days.  He  would  tear  his  heart  from  his  bosom,  if  he  thought 
that  a  single  pulsation  was  not  the  unconstrained  and  free 
movement  of  his  soul."* 

Although  Foscolo  had  studied  under  Cesarotti,  and  had 
been  encouraged  by  the  voice  of  that  generous  master,  he 
loudly  disapproved  of  the  translation  of  Homer,  and  more 
decidedly  still  of  the  Pronea.  He  was  a  long  time  nearly 
connected  with  Monti,  who  frequently  mentions  him  with 
applause  ;  and,  in  his  illustrations  of  Persius.  foretells  that  his 
young  friend  will,  one  day  or  the  other,  be  the  first  poet  of 
the  age.  In  the  last  years  of  the  French  ^government,  an 
intimacy  with  Foscolo  was  not  favourable  to  court  promotion. 
Monti  and  the  future  Corypheus  of  the  poets  became  cool  to 
each  other,  and  would  not  willingly  meet  in  the  same  society ; 
but  either  reciprocal  fear,  or  the  memory  of  their  ancient 
alliance  has  not  allowed  any  written  attack  from  either  ad- 
versary. An  Englishman  wished,  when  at  the  Scala  theatre 
at  Milan  in  1816,  to  give  the  Death  of  Ortis  as  a  subject  for 
an  improvisatore ;  but  a  friend  said  to  him,  "  It  will  not  ht 
chosen  :  Monti  is  behind  the  scenes,  and  will  hear  nothing  said  in 
favour  of  Ortis  or  of  Foscolo.^^  The  same  influence,  joined 
to  that  of  the  police,  was  pronounced  fatal  also  to  the  ^Apo- 
theosis of  Alfieri.t  There  is  a  story  current  respecting  the 
last  interview  of  these  two  poets,  which  may  illustrate  and 

*  Intollerante  pih  per  reflessione  che  per  naiura :  aviico  fervido ;  ma  siv- 
cero  come  lo  specchio,  che  non  inganna,  ne  illude.  Pietoso,  generoso,  rico- 
noscente,  pare  un  selvaggio  in  mezzo  a'JUosoJi  de'  nostri  d\  Si  strapperebbe 
U  cuore  dal  petto  se  liberi  non  gli  paressero  i  nsalti  tutti  del  suo  cuore.  See 
— ^Ritratti  scritti  dalla  Contessa  Isabella  Albrizzi 

t  See— note  t^  Stanza  LTV.  of  Chiide  Harold,  Canto  IV 

18 


300 

ceiitrast  the  character  of  both.  They  were  dining  at  the 
house  of  Count  Veneri,  minister  of  the  pubUc  treasury : 
Monti,  as  usual,  launched  out  against  Alfieri,  according  to  the 
court  tone  of  the  day :  "  All  his  works  together,"  said  he, 

"  are  not  worth  a  song  of  Metastasio's" "  Stop  there,  Sir,'''' 

interrupted  Foscolo,  "  or  Iroill  twirl  round  ^ou  and  your  party 
as  vjell  as  ever  top  was  whipped  by  a  schoolboy.''''  As  far  a* 
respects  his  other  great  cotemporaries,  he  has  never  spoken 
of  Pindemonte  but  with  esteem,  nor  ever  names  Alfieri  with- 
out admiration.  The  instructions  he  received  from  Parini 
have  mingled  a  tender  recollection  with  the  reverence  with 
which  he  dwells  upon  his  character,  in  the  letters  of  Ortis. 

In  spite  of  bis  opposition  to  the  French,  and  of  his  repeated 
declaration,  that  the  representative  rights  belong  only  to  the 
landed  proprietors,  it  is  easy  to  discern  that  Foscolo  is  a 
pupil  of  the  Revolution.  In  truth,  he  imputes  the  misfor- 
tunes of  Italy  to  the  cowardice,  the  ignorance,  and  the  ego- 
tism of  the  nobles.  He  owes  his  popularity  rather  to  his  con- 
duct than  to  his  maxims,  or  even  to  his  works  ;  for  the  first 
are  not  qualified  to  obtain  the  favour  of  the  majority,  and  the 
second  are  above  the  common  class  of  readers. 

The  admirers  of  Napoleon  may  behold  in  this  author  a  re- 
bellious subject,  but  a  sincere  eulogist  wherever  he  has  thought 
fit  to  praise.  The  truth  is,  that  Napoleon  conferred  upon 
Italy  all  the  benefit  that  a  country  divided  and  enslaved  could 
possibly  expect  from  a  conqueror.  To  him  she  owed  her 
union  ;  to  him,  her  laws  and  her  arms  :  her  new  activity,  and 
her  recovered  martial  spirit,  were  inspired  by  his  system. 
But  Foscolo  was  a  citizen  of  the  Venetian  republic  which  Na- 
poleon destroyed,  and  there  exist  in  Italy  a  very  numerous 
class,  who  consider  the  independence  of  their  country  as  the 
first  indispensable  step  towards  her  regeneration.  Foscolo,. 
as  well  as  some  others,  who,  when  the  Italian  republic  was 
degraded  into  a  subsidiary  kingdom,  were  named  amongst  the 
electoral  colleges,  contrived  never  to  attend,  because  he 
would  not  take  the  oath  of  allegiance.  But  he  did  not  find 
it  impossible  to  live  under  the  dominion  of  the  French.  The 
Austrians  in  their  turn  required  from  him  personally  an  oath 
of  fidelity  to  their  Emperor.     Foscolo  refused  to  them  what 


301 

he  would  not  grant  to  Napoleon.  But  he  could  not  breathe 
under  their  depressive  system.  He  became  a  voluntary 
exile,  and  his  adieus  to  his  countrymen  are  couched  in  the 
language  of  proud  resignation.  Let  not  the  minister  of  the 
Austrian  police  continue  to  persecute  me  iri  my  Swiss  asylum ; 
tell  him  that  I  am  far  from  wishing  to  excite  the  hopeless  pas- 
sions of  my  fellow  citizens.  We  were  in  want  of  arms ;  they 
were  given  to  us  by  France,  and  Italy  hod  again  a  name 
amongst  the  nations.  In  the  access  of  our  inflammatory  fever, 
the  loss  of  blood  could  not  harm  us,  and  the  death  of  a  single 
man  7Vould  have  inevitably  produced  changes  favourable  to  all 
the  nations  who  should  have  courage  to  profit  by  the  happy  junc- 
ture. But  it  was  ordained  otherwise:  the  affairs  of  the  tvor Id 
have  been  turned  into  another  and  an  unexpected  channel.  The 
actual  disease  of  Italy  is  a  slow  lethargic  consumption,  she  will 
soon  be  nothing  but  a  lifeless  carcass ;  and  her  generous  sons 
should  only  weep  in  silence,  without  the  impotent  complaints  and 
the  mutual  recrimination  of  slaves. *^  ' 


CONCLUSION. 

It  is  hoped  that  the  preceding  pages  may  have  furnished  a 
general  notion  of  the  state  of  literature  in  Italy  during  the 
last  fifty  years.  More  extensive  limits  would  have  comprised 
more  copious  extracts  from  the  cited  authors,  would  have  no- 
ticed other  M-riters,  and  would  have  included  not  only  a  view 
of  the  education  of  the  Italians,  but  of  their  style  and  taste, 
and  present  productions  in  all  the  branches  of  literature  ;  lit- 
tle indeed  has  been  done  in  comparison  of  what  remains  to  do, 

*  Senza  querele  impotenti,  nt  recriminazioni  da  Servi.  This  was  in- 
serted in  the  Lugano  Gazette,  for  April  14,  1815,  in  an  article  written  to 
answer  a  book  with  the  title  Memoria  storica  delta  Rivoluzione  diMilano, 
seguiio  il  <iLQ  Jlprile  1814,  Parizi  1815.  Published  hy  some  senators  of 
the  kjnffdonn  of  Italr. 


302 

but  on  the  reception  of  what  has  been  already  offered  will 
depend  whether  any  thing  more  shall  be  attempted.  A  great 
question  at  this  moment  divides  the  learned  world  in  Italy  into 
the  partisans  of  clasical  poetry,  and  of  the  poetry  of  romance. 
The  first,  of  course,  range  Homer  in  the  front  of  their  battle  ; 
and  the  others,  who  have  adopted  the  division  of  Madame  de 
Stael,  and  talk  of  a  literature  of  the  North,  and  a  literature 
of  the  South,  have  still  the  courage  to  depend  upon  Ossian 
for  their  principal  champion.  The  first  would  adhere  solely 
to  the  mythology  of  the  ancients  ;  the  other  party  would  ba- 
nish it  totally  from  all  their  compositions.  It  would  not  be 
very  difficult  to  state  the  true  merits  of  this  idle  inquiry,  dn 
the  decision  of  which  may,  however,  depend  the  turn  taken  by 
the  literature  of  the  next  half  century.  But  this  also  must  be 
left  for  another  opportunity.  In  the  mean  time  it  may  be  al- 
lowed to  mention,  that  the  Italians  themselves  are  far  from 
ungrateful  to  those  foreigners,  especially  the  English,  who 
evince  a  desire  to  be  acquainted  with  their  literature :  but 
that  they  are  for  the  most  part  surprised  at  our  original  mis- 
conceptions, and  do  not  a  little  complain  of  the  false  impres- 
sions communicated  by  the  ignorance  of  those,  even  amongst 
their  expatriated  countrymen,  who  have  presumed  to  be  our 
-instructors. 


I 


APPENDIX. 


No.  I. 
TASSO. 


The  public  library  at  Ferrara,  founded  in  1740,  by  Joseph 
Carli,  a  rich  citizen  of  that  town,  contains  the  following  auto- 
graphs, jealously  preserved  in  the  same  compartment  which 
holds  the  chair  and  inkstand  of  Ariosto, 

1.  The  Jerusalem. 

2.  The  Orlando,  an  imperfect  copy. 

3.  One  of  the  satires  of  Ariosto. 

4.  His  comedy,  La  Scolastica. 

5.  The  Pastor  Fido. 

6.  A  small  octavo  of  fifty-three  pages  of  rime,  with  the  de- 
dication "  Alle  Signore  Principesse  di  Ferrara."  In  this  au- 
tograph of  Tasso's  there  is  scarcely  a  word  scratched  out. 
The  poems  open  with 

"  Duo  Donne  Amor  m'  oflferse  illustri  e  rare." 

There  are  variations  from  the  Florence  and  Venice  editions 
of  these  rhymes,  which  perhaps  might  make  it  worth  while  to 
publish  them  from  this  manuscript. 

7.  Fifteen  Letters,  of  which  thirteen  are  Ariosto's,  written 
either  in  his  own  name,  or  in  that  of  Alessandra  Strozzi,  an4 
all  of  which  have  been  published  in  the  duodecimo  Venice 
edition,  in  6  vols.  The  remaining  two  are  in  the  handwriting 
of  the  lady,  and  one  of  them,  with  a  postscript  of  Ariosto's, 
has  been  published  in  Baruffaldi's  life  of  that  poet ;  the 
other  letter  has  never  been  published,  nor  contains  any 
thing  curious. 

Lastly,  Eight  Letters,  written  by  Tasso  when  in  the  hos- 
pital of  St.  Anna,  together  with  a  testamentary  memoir, 
written  when  he  set  out  on  his  journey  to  France.  The  let- 
ters, with  the  exception  of  one  which  appeared  in  the  Poli- 
grafo,  a  periodical  work,  edited  at  Milan  during  the  reign  of 
Napoleon,  have,  it  is  believed,  never  been  publighed.     Thej 


304 

dp  not  establish  any  new  facts,  but  are  not  altogether  devoid 
of  interest.  A  translation  of  one  of  them  has  been  already 
inserted  amongst  these  Notices.  There  is  also  a  copy  of 
verses,  beginning 

"  Gentilezza  di  sangue  e  gloria  antica," 
which  has  been  before  published.  Serassi  mentions  the  will 
as  having  been  in  the  possession  of  Baruffaldi  of  Cento,  and 
as  being  no  longer  in  the  library  belonging  to  the  nephew  of 
that  learned  person.  Jt  thus  appears  that  the  biographer  had 
never  seen  the  original,  and  it  is  certain  that  he  followed  an 
imperfect  copy,  for  he  has  omitted  the  postscript  or  reference, 
which  is  interesting  so  far  as  it  illustrates  the  scanty  wardrobe 
of  the  poet,  and  consequently  the  mean  patronage  of  the 
house  of  Este.  On  this  account  the  reader  may  not  object 
to  see  an  exact  copy  of  the  memorial,  notwithstanding  the 
translation  of  an  imperfect  one  has  been  already  presented 
to  him  by  a  late  English  author. 

A  difficulty  has  suggested  itself  to  Serassi  respecting  the 
date  of  the  will,  which  he  contends  cannot  be  that  of  the 
copy  which  he  followed,  for  Tasso  had  left  Ferrara  before 
1573,  the  year  marked  in  the  printed  document :  the  date 
preferred  by  the  biographer  is  1570.  The  fact  is,  that  the 
manuscript  is  written  on  a  double  sheet  of  paper,  of  which 
the  will  itself  occupies  the  two  sides  of  the  first  half  sheet, 
and  the  epitaph  on  his  father,  and  the  reference  to  the  goods 
in  pawn,  are  on  the  third  opposite  page.  The  date  is  at  the 
bottom  of  the  second  page,  and  having  been  worn  away 
from  the  doubling  of  the  sheet,  the  fourth  figure  cannot  be 
deciphered. 

THE  WILL. 

Benche  la  vita  e  frale,  se  piacesse  al  S""  Iddio  disporre  altro 
di  me  in  questo  viaggio  di  francia,  sia  pregato  il  Sig°'  Her- 
colc  Rondinelli  a  prender  cura  d'  alcune  mie  cose  ;  e  prima 
in  quanto  alle  mie  compositioni  procurj  di  raccogliere  i  miei 
sonetti  amorosi,  e  i  madrigali,  e  gli  mandi  in  luce  ;  gli  altri 
o  amorosi  o  in  altra  materia,  c'  ho  fatti  per  servigio  d'  alcuno 
amico,  desidero  che  restino  sepolti  con  esso  meco,  fuor  che 
quel  solo.  "  Hor  che  1'  aura  mia  dolce  alterne  spira."  L' 
a;ratione  rh'  io  feci  in  Ferrara  nel    principio  dell'  academia 


305 

havrei  caro  che  fosse  vista,  et  similmcnte  quattro  libri  del 
poema  heroico.  Del  Gottifredo  i  sei  ultimi  canti,  c  de'  due 
primi  quelle  stanze  che  saranno  giudicate  men  ree,  si  vera- 
mente  che  tutte  queste  cose  siano  reviste  et  considerate,  pri- 
ma dal  Sig"".  Scip.  Gonzaga,  dal  Sig"'.  Domcnico  Vcniero,  e 
dal  Sig".  Batt**.  Guarino,  i  quali  per  1'  amicitia  e  servitu  ch' 
io  ho  con  loro,  mi  pcrsuado  che  non  ricnseranno  questo  fasti- 
dio.  Sappiano  perd  che  mia  intentione  sarebbe  che  troncas- 
sero  e  risecassero,  senza  rispartnio  tutte  le  cose  ch'  o  men 
buonc  o  soperchie  giudicassero ;  ma  nel  aggiungere  o  nel 
mutare  andassero  piii  ritenuti,  non  potendosi  questo  poema  ve- 

dere  se  non  imperfetto Dell'  altre  mie  compositioni, 

s'  al  suddetto  Sig°^  Rondinelli,  et  a  prefati  sig''.  alcuna  ne 
parebbe  non  indegna  d'  essere  vista,  sia  loro  libero  P  arbitrio 
di  disporne  ;  le  mie  robbe  che  sono  in  pcgno  presso  Abram 

,  per  XXV  lire,  et  sette  pezzi  di  razzi  che  sono  in  pegno 

per  13  scudi  appresso  il  Sig"'.  Ascanio,  e  quelle  che  sono  in 
questa  casa,  desidero  che  si  vendino  e  del  sopravanzo  de  di- 
nari  se  ne  faccia  uno  epitafio  a  mio  padre,  il  cui  corpo  e  in  San 
Polo  ;  et  1'  epitafio  sara  1'  infrascritto ;  et  s'  in  alcuna  cosa 
nascesse  qualche  impedimento,  ricorra  il  Sig°^  Hercole  al  fa- 
vor dell'  Ecc"*.  Mad*.  Leonora,  la  qual  confido  che  p'  amor 
mio  gliene  sara  liberale. 

Io  torq  tasso  scrissi.  fer'. 

157 

Bernardo  taxo  (Principum  nego"^*)  Musarum  ocio  et  Prin- 
cipum  negotiis  sum  a  ingenii  ubertate  atque  excellentia  pari 
fortunae  varietate  ac  inconstantia  relictis  utriusque  industrial 
monumentis  clariss".  torquat\  fihus  posuit.  vixit  an  septua- 
ginta  et  sex.  obi  an.  1569.  die  4°  Septemb. 

Robbe  che  son  presso  Abram  in  via  Cussa. 

Duepadiglioni. 

Due  colore  turchesche  guarnite  di  xendalio. 

Un  tornaletto  di  Razzo. 

Due  anteporti. 

*  Principum  jjeg-o"*.     These  words  are  struck  out  in  tlie  MSS.    Tdsso 
thought  better  of  the  Muses  than  the  Princes,  and  phanf:<:d   the   prece 
deuce. 


306 


M.  R^.  mio  Oss-, 

Nel  fbglio  giunto  temo,  che  vi  sia 
eorso  un'  error  di  penna,  ma  non  ne  sono  ben  sicuro :  coraun- 
que  sia,  avertite  che  si  legga  cosi,  e  che  non  eaca  altra- 
mente. 

Se  la  felicita  e  premio,  P  infeUcita  e  pena  :  Ma  la  felicita 
e  premio  intrinseco  della  virtu.  Dunque  P  infelicita  e  pena 
interiore  del  vitio.  E  mi  vi  raccomando.  Di  S.  Anna  il  xxvi. 
di  Giugno. 


Di  V.  S.  Ser«.  il  Tasso. 


Al  M*".  R».  mio  Col"". 
Don  Gio.  Bat*'.  Licinio. 


307 


Very  Reverend  my  very  Respectable. 

In  the  sheet  which  is  arrived  I  fear  thai 
there  is  an  error  of  the  pen,  but  I  am  not  quite  sure  of  it  : 
however  it  may  be,  taiie  care  that  it  is  read  thus,  and  that 
it  is  not  pubhshed  otherwise. 

"  If  happiness  is  a  reward,  unhappiness  is  a  punishment  : 
but  happiness  is  the  intrinsic  reward  of  virtue  ;  then  unhap- 
piness is  the  internal  punishment  of  vice  ;"  and  I  recommend 
myself  to  you. 

From  St.  Anna,  the  26"'  of  June. 
From  your  servt. 

Tasso. 

To  the  very  reverend  my  very  venerable 
Don  Giovanni  Batt'S  Licinio. 


3» 


308 


M.  Mag=°.  Sig^.  mio  Ossm„. 

Non  posso  acquetar  1'  animo,  s'  io 
nonsonocerto  del  vostro  buono  stato  :  pero  vi  prego  che  me 
ne  diate  aviso,  e  se  come  io  credo  sete  risanato,  mi  farete 
piacere  a  venire  a  vedermi :  cosi  piaccia  a  la  Providenza  del 
Sig"^^.  Iddio,  d'  averci  in  protettione. 

Di  S.  Anna  il  x  di  Sett'^  del  1584. 

Di.  V.  S. 

Aff""'.  Ser«.  Torq'°.  Tasso. 

Al  M.  Magn".  Sig'.  mio 

Oss""".  il  Sig*".  Luca  Scalabrino. 


309 


Very  magnif.  and  my  respect :  le  Signor. 

I  cannot  set  my  mind  at  ease,  if  I  am  not  sure 
of  your  well-being  :  therefore  I  pray  you  to  give  me  iiiforma- 
tion  concerning  it,  and  if,  as  I  believe,  you  are  recovered, 
that  you  will  do  me  the  pleasure  to  come  and  see  me  :  may  it 
please  the  Providence  of  the  Lord  God,  to  keep  you  in  his 
protection. 

S*.  Anna,  the  lO*^  of  September,  1584. 

Of  your  Worship 
The  most  affect,  serv*.  Torq.  Tasso. 

For  the  very  Magn.  my  Lord, 
the  very  respectable  Signor 
Luca  Scalabrino.* 


*  No  inquiry  has  been  able  to  discorer  who  this  Scalabrino  was. 


31@ 


I 


M.  Mag".  Sig^'. 


Mando  a  V.  S.  cinque  camice  le  quali  han- 
no  tutte  bisogno  d'  essere  racconcie  :  Le  dia  al  suo  parente  : 
e  1'  avertisca,  che  non  vorrei  che  fosser  mescolatecon  1'  altre  : 
e  mi  verra*  fare  piacere  di  venire  un  giorno  seco  a  parlarmi : 
frattanto  aspetto  quella  risposta,  che  V.  S.  mi  promise  di  sol- 
lecitare,  ne  dia  ricordo  a  1'  amico,  e  le  bacio  le  mani.  Di  S. 
Anna  il  4  di  Gen'",  del  1585. 


Di  V.  S. 
S'.  certiss""'.  Torq'".  Tasso. 


8e  non  puo  renir  col  parente  venga  solo, 
c'  ho  bisogno  di  parlarle  :  e  faccia 
lavare  il  drappo  nel  quale  sono  invi- 
luppate  le  camice. 


Al  M'°.  Magn".  Sig". 
II  Sig®.  Luca  Scalabrino. 


*  Thus  in  the  MSS. 


311 


Very  Magnificent  Signer, 


I  send  your  lordship  jive  shirts,  all  of  which 
want  mending.  Give  them  to  your  relation;  and  let  him* 
know  that  I  do  notwish  them  to  be  mixed  with  the  others  ;  and 
that  he  will  gratify  me  by  coming  one  day  with  you  to  see  me. 
In  the  mean  while  I  wait  for  that  answer  which  your  lordship 
promised  to  solicit  for  me.  Put  your  friend  in  mind  of  it.  I 
kiss  your  lordship's  hand. 


Of  your  Worship 
The  very  faithful  servant, 

Torquato  Tasso. 

From  S.  Anna,  the  4th  of  Jan.  1585. 

If  you  cannot  come  with  your  relation,  come  alone.  1 
want  to  speak  to  you.  And  get  the  cloth  washed  in  which  the 
shirts  are  wrapped  up. 

To  the  very  Magnificent  Signor,  * 

The  Signor  Luca  Scalabrino. 


*  Or  htr 


312 


Molto  Mag**.  Sig".  come  Fratello« 

Scrivo  a  V  lUmo  Sig^.  nostro  padrone :  e 
gli  raccomando  il  negotio  de  la  mia  vita,  pero  credo  che  non 
abbia  alcun  bisogno  di  ricordo:  il  ricordo  nondimeno  a  vol 
medesimo  :  e  mi  vi  raccomando.  Da  Ferrara  il  xi  d'  Aprile 
del  1585. 

Di  V.  S. 

come  Fratello  P.  Ser"*.  Torq*^.  Tasso, 

Al  molto  Mag***.  Sig'.  Giorgio 
Alessio  mio  Oss""". 


313 


Very  Mag*.  Signer  and  dear  as  my  Brother. 

I  write  to  the  Most  Illustrious  Lord  our  master: 
and  I  recommend  to  him  the  business  of  my  life — however  I 
believe  that  he  has  not  any  need  of  a  remembrancer :  never- 
theless I  remind  you  yourself  of  it :  and  I  recommend  myself 
to  you. 

From  Ferrara,  the  ll***  of  April,  1585. 

Of  your  Worship, 

The  Brother  to  serve  you,  Torq*",  Tasso. 

To  the  very  Mag.  Sig•^  George 
Alessio,  my  most  respectable. 


314 


Illmo.  e  Rmo.  Sig.  e  Pro",  mio  Colmo. 


Dopo  la  prlgionia,  e  1'  infermita  di  molti  anni, 
se  le  mie  pene  non  hanno  purgato  gli  errori,  almeno  la  cle- 
menza  di  V.  S.  lllma  pu6  facilimente  perdonarli ;  laonde  io 
btimo,  che  la  sua  benignita^mi  faccia  piu  lecito  di  supplicare 
arditamente,  che  non  suol  fare  la  mia  calamita.  La  suplico 
dunque  che  non  consenta  a  si  lunga  ostinazione  de  gli  Uomini, 
ne  voglia,  che  dia  fine  a  la  mia  grave  miseria  la  morte,  ma  la 
pieta :  e  quantunque  cio  le  fosse  piu  facile  ne  lo  stato  de  la 
Chiesa,  che  in  alcuno  altro  :  nondimeno  in  questo  di  Ferrara 
non  le  sara  difficile  :  perche  il  Ser"'°.  Sig^  Duca  non  mi  tiene 
in  alcuna  sua  prigione,  ma  ne'  lo  Spedale  di  S.  Anna  :  dove, 
i  frati  e  i  preti  posson  visitarmi  a  voglia  loro,  ne  sono  impediti 
di  farmi  giovamento.  E'l  cenno  di  V.  S.  lllma.  potrebbe 
esser  Legge  a  tutti  non  che  ammonitione  :  Oltredicio  puo 
giovarmi  in  diverse  maniere  co'  suoi  Bolognesi  medesimi :  et 
in  ciascuna  d'  esse  mostrarmi  la  sua  bonta  congiunta  a  1'  ' 
autorita:  et  in  ciascuna,  obbligarmi  alia  sua  Casa,  et  a  se 
stessa  perpetuamente.  Ma  forse  io  non  la  supplico  ardita- 
mente come  havea  detto,  e  come  dovrei :  perche  non  basta 
la  sanita,  senza  la  liberta  ;  e  P  una,  scompagnata  da  1'  altra 
sarebbe  assai  piccol  dono  di  cosi  gran  Cardinale.  Adunque 
le  chicdo  insiemc.  E  benche  sia  quasi  disperato  di  risanare, 
nondimeno  i  salutiferi  medicamenti,  e  gli  efficaci  rimedii,  e  1' 
allegrezza  di  vedermi  libero  potrebbono  ritornarmi  nel  primo 
stato  :  ma  sopratutto  la  gratia  di  N.  S".  e  di  V.  S.  lllma.  e  la 
quale  non  dico  il  modo  come  possa  farlo  :  perche  la  prudenza 
glie  le  manifesta  e  1'  alto  grado  glie  le  agevola — ma  le  scopro 
il  bisogno.  e  la  necessita,  e  1'  infeUcita  degna  di  ritrovar  com- 


315 


Most  Illustrious  and  most  Rev.    and  my   most  respectable 

Lord. 

After  my  imprisonment,  and  the  infirmity  of 
many  years,  if  my  pains  have  not  purged  away  my  errors,  at 
least  the  clemency  of  Your  Most  Illustrious  Lordship  may 
easily  pardon  them  :  therefore  I  think  that  your  benignity 
will  make  it  allowable  to  ask  with  more  courage,  than  my 
calamity  is  wont  to  assume — I  supplicate  you,  then,  that  you 
will  interpose  against  the  long  and  cruel  perseverance  of  some 
men,  nor  suffer  that  death  alone  should  be  the  close  of  my 
heavy  sufferings — let  them  rather  be  terminated  by  compas- 
sion; for  although  that  might  be  more  easy  to  you  in  the 
territory  of  the  Church,  than  in  any  other ;  nevertheless,  in 
this  of  Ferrara  it  will  not  be  very  difficult :  because  the  Most 
Serene  Lord  Duke  does  not  detain  me  in  any  of  his  prisons, 
but  in  the  Hospital  of  St.  Anna,  where  the  brothers  and  the 
priests  may  visit  me  at  their  pleasure,  and  are  not  prevented 
from  administering  to  my  wants.  Besides,  a  hint  from  Your 
Most  Illustrious  Lordship  would  be  not  only  an  admonition, 
but  a  law  to  all :  in  addition  to  which,  you  may  assist  me  in 
different  ways  amongst  your  Bolognese  themselves;  and  in 
each  demonstration  of  kindness  give  me  a  proof  both  of  your 
goodness  and  of  your  authority ;  and  moreover  lay  me  under 
perpetual  obligations  to  yourself  and  to  your  house.  But 
perhaps  I  do  not  ask  you  with  courage,  as  I  had  said  I  would, 
and  as  I  ought  to  do  ;  for  health  is  not  enough  without  liberty, 
and  the  one  unaccompanied  by  the  other  would  be  a  very  small 
gift  from  so  great  a  Cardinal.  I  ask,  then,  for  both  at  once. 
And  though  I  almost  despair  of  being  cured,  nevertheless, 
salutary  medicines,  efficacious  remedies,  and  the  joy  of 
finding  myself  free,  might  restore  me  to  my  former  condition  ; 

40 


316 

passione  ne  1'  animo  suo  religiosiss™'. :  e  le  bacio  humiliss". 
le  mani.     Di  Ferrara  il  xii  d'  Aprile  del  1585. 
Di  V.  S.  lUma. 
Humiliss'"°.  Ser°.  Torquato  Tasso. 
All'  111""',  et  Rmo.  Sig^^  e 
Padron  mio  Colendiss°. 
il  Sig"^.  Cardinal  Bon 
Gompagno 

Roma. 


317 

but  I  account  above  all  the  favour  of  our  Lord  (the  Pope) 
and  of  your  most  Illustrious  Lordship ;  although  I  do  not  tell 
you  the  manner  in  which  you  may  perform  it;  because  it  will 
be  suggested  by  your  prudence,  and  made  easy  by  your  high 
rank.  All  that  I  venture  to  disclose  is,  those  wants,  and  that 
misfortune,  which  are  truly  worthy  of  awakening  the  com- 
passion of  your  most  religious  soul :  and  I  most  humbly 
kiss  your  hands. 

Of  your  most  Illust.  Lordship, 

The  most  humble  servant, 

Torquato  Tasso. 
Ferrara  the  12th  of  April,   1585. 

To  the  most  Illust.  and  most 

Rev.  and  my  very  venerable 

Patron,  the  Lord  Cardinal  Bon 

Compagno.  Rome. 


# 


318 


M.  Mag'=^  Sig'.  mio  Ossmo. 

Supplicai  1'  altro  giorno  al  Ser®.  Sig'.  Duca  di 
Ferrara :  che  mi  facesse  gratia  di  molte  cose,  e  particolar- 
mente  di  rendermi  le  mie  robe.  Le  quali  fosser  consegnate 
a  Don  Giovan  B**.  et  a  voi :  ne  debbo  dubitare,  da  S.  Altezza 
la  gratia,  ch'  e  molto  picciola  a  la  sua  cl^menza,  et  a  la  mia 
calamita :  pero  vi  piaccia  di  parlarne  al  Sig®.  Ci'ispo,  et  al 
Sig"^.  Cole"".  :  hora  vi  mando  per  Don  Gio :  Batta.  Licinio 
cinque  lettere  d'  opp"' :  e  di  risposte.  Le  quali  vorrei,  che 
si  stampassero  con  I'Apologia — noa  vogliate  vi  prego  man- 
carmi  della  vostra  promessa  :  e  questo  vi  scrivo  non  per  dub- 
bio,  ch'  io  n'  abbia ;  ma  per  desiderio  d'  un  altro  anello. 
Serbate  per  1'  ultimo  foglio  la  ded°®.  et  amatemi.  Di  S. 
Anna  il  vii  di  Maggio  del  1585. 

Di  V. 
Ser*®.  il  Tasso. 

Pes.  mio  nipote  vorrebbe  una  beretta,  fate  che  le  sia  fat- 
ta :  che  de  I'anello  parlero  poi. 

Al  Molto  Mag".  Sig^ 
mio  OSS'"".  II  Sig^ 
Luca  Scalabrino. 


3id 


My  very  magnificent  and  respectable  Signer, 

I  entreated,  the  other  day,  the  most  Serene 
Lord  Duke  of  Ferrara,  that  he  would  grant  me  sundry  fa- 
vours, and  particularly  that  he  would  restore  to  me  my  goods, 
so  that  they  might  be  consigned  to  Don  Giovanni  Battista 
and  to  you  :  nor  ought  I  to  doubt  of  receiving  from  his  High- 
ness this  favour,  which  is  but  a  very  small  one,  both  in  pro- 
portion to  his  clemency,  and  to  my  calamity ;  therefore  be 
pleased  to  speak  of  it  to  Signor  Crispo,  and  to  the  Signor, 
my  other  respectable  friend.  I  now  send  you  for  Don  Gio- 
vanni Battista  Licinio  five  letters  of  objections,  and  of  an- 
swers, which  I  should  wish  to  be  printed  with  the  apology  : 
do  not,  I  pray  you,  fail  in  your  promise  to  me  :  I  write 
this  to  you,  not  from  any  doubt,  but  from  the  desire  of  ano- 
ther ring.  Keep  the  dedication  for  the  last  sheet,  and  love 
me. 

From  your  Servant, 

Tasso. 
St.  Anna,  the  7th  of  May,  1585. 

Postscript. — My  nephew  wants  a  cap  ;  get  one  made  for 
him  :  I  will  speak  to  you  about  the  ring  afterwards. 

For  my  very  magnificent  and  re- 
spectable Signor,  the  Signor 
Luca  Scalabrino. 


320 


M.  Mag"*.  Sig^  mio  Oss*°. 

lo  diedi  i  Mesi  passati  a  V.  S.  un  libro  del 
Sig®.  Alessandro  Gendaglia :  nel  quale  erano  alcuni  miei  con- 
cieti,  hora  ha  mandate  un  suo  a  dimandarlomi.  Laonde  vi 
prego,  che  glie  le  diate :  et  havendo  qualche  risposta  de  1' 
lUmo.  Patriarca  Gonzaga,  mi  farete  piacere  di  portarlami 
senza  indugio  e  vi  bacio  le  mani.  Di  S.  Anna  il  p"°.  di 
Dicem'S  del  1585. 

•   Di  V.  S. 
Ser«  Torq*°.  Tasso. 

Al  M'".  Mag'o.  Sig^ 
mio  OSS'"",  il  Sig^ 
Luca  Scalabrino. 


321 


Very  magnif.  and  respect.  Signer. 

I  gave,  during  the  last  months,  to  your  Wor- 
ship a  book  of  the  Signor  Alessandro  Gendagh'a,  in  which 
were  some  thoughts  of  my  own  :  he  has  now  sent  a  person 
to  ask  me  for  it.  Therefore,  I  pray  you,  that  you  will  give 
it  to  him  :  and  when  you  have  any  answer  from  the  Most 
Illustrious  Patriarch  Gonzaga,  you  will  do  me  a  favour  to 
bring  it  to  me  without  delay,  and  1  kiss  your  hands. 

From  your  Worship's  Servant, 

Torq.  Tasso. 
St.  Anna,  the  1st  of  December,  1585. 

For  the  very  magnificent  my 
Sig°.  the  respectful  Sig°. 
Luca  Scalabrino. 


322 


lUmo.  Sig^.  e  Padron  mio  Oss"". 

Mandai  a  V.  S.  Illma.  queste  settimane  pas- 
sate  cinquanta  scudi  d'  oro  :  et  moneta  perch'  io  non  li  posso 
tener  sicuri :  e  credo,  che  P  Sig®.  Luca  Scalabrino ;  al  quale 
io  gli  diedi  li  mandera  a  buon  ricapito  :  non  dico  altro,  se  non 
ch'  in  questa  camera  c'  e  un  folletto  ch'  apre  le  Casse  e  toglie  i 
danari :  benche  non  in  gran  quantita  ma  non  cosi  piccola,  che 
non  possa  discomodare  un  povero  come  son  io.  Se  V.  S. 
Illma.  vuol*  farmi  questa  gratia  di  serbarmeli,  me  ne  dia 
aviso  e  frattanto  ch'  io  provedo  d'  altro  sia  contenta,  di  pig- 
liarli  e  le  bacio  le  mani.     Di  S.  Anna  li  9  di  Dic^^.  del  1585. 

Di  V.  S.  R"°. 

Aff'"°.  Ser^  Torq'*.  Tasso. 

All'  Illmo.  e  Rmo.    Sig^ 
e  Pron  mio  Colmo.  II 
Sig.  Patriarca  Gonzaga. 
Roma. 


*  In  the  original  MSS.  the  u  and  v  are  indiflferently  used. 


323 


Most  illustrious  Signor,  and  my  very  respectable  Lord, 

I  sent  your  most  illustrious  Lordship,  these  few 
weeks  back,  fifty  crowns  in  gold,  because  I  cannot  keep  them 
safely  myself :  and  I  presume  that  the  Signor  Luca  Scala- 
brino,  to  whom  I  gave  them,  will  see  them  conveyed  safe  to 
hand :  I  shall  only  say,  that  in  this  room  of  mine  there  is  a 
demon  that  opens  the  boxes,  and  takes  out  the  money  :  in  no 
great  quantity,  indeed  ;  but  not  so  little  as  not  to  incommode 
a  poor  fellow  such  as  I  am.  If  your  most  illustrious  Lordship 
will  do  me  this  favour  to  take  care  of  them  for  me,  let  me 
have  advice  of  it,  and  whilst  I  provide  otherwise,  perhaps 
you  will  have  no  objection  to  take  them  into  your  keeping. 
I  kiss  your  hands. 

Of  your  very  Rev.  Lordship, 
^  The  affectionate  servant, 

Torquato  Tasso. 

From  St.  Anna,  the  9th  of  December,  of  the  year  1585^ 

To  the  most  Illustrious  and  most 
Rev.  Lord,  and  my  very  re- 
ipectable  Patron,  the  Lord  Pa- 
triarch Gonzaga. 

Rome. 


41 


324 


No.  II. 

RIENZI. 

TiRABOscHi*  has  given  Rienzi  a  place  amongst  the  re- 
storers of  hterature  ;  but  he  seems  never  to  have  seen  some 
specimens  of  the  tribune's  composition  existing  in  the  royal 
library  at  Turin.  Indeed  the  Abbe  de  Sade  appears  to  be 
the  only  compiler,  who  has  consulted  these  manuscripts,  and 
he  transcribes  such  only  as  relate  to  Petrarch.  The  con- 
tinuer  of  Baronius  cites  letters  of  Rienzi  amongst  the  secret 
epistles  of  the  Vatican,  but  cannot  be  inferred  to  have  seen 
a  copy  of  the  Turin  papers.!  By  a  strange  fatality  the  acts 
of  the  Roman  tribune  have  been  preserved  in  the  annals  of  a 
monastery  at  Liege. f  The  Canon  Hocsemius  has  supplied  us 
with  three  documents  which  are  to  be  found  also  in  the  Turin 
manuscripts,  and  with  two  others  which  are  not  in  that  col- 
lection. Hocsemius  was  cited  and  translated  by  Du  Cerceau,§ 
and  Du  Cerceau  was  consulted  by  Gibbon,  who  does  not  ap- 
pear to  have  referred  to  the  original.  Neither  the  one  nor 
the  other  knew  any  thing  of  the  existence  of  these  letters, 
which,  although  they  are  not  the  original  acts,  and  although 
the  collection  whence  they  were  transferred  to  the  library  is 
unknown,  are  undoubtedly  authentic.  As  they  relate  to  a 
very  singular  personage,  and  afford  a  curious  specimen  of 
the  style  in  which  a  revolutionary  leader  addressed  the  Ro- 

*  Storia  delia  Lett.  torn,  v  lib.  ii.  p.  313.  et  seq.  edit  Moden.  1775. 

t  Raynaldus  contin.  Baronii  ad  an.  1347.  num.  xiii.xiv.  et  seq.  torn.  vi. 
p.  442.  et  seq.  edit.  Luc«,  1750. 

t  Gesta  Ponfiiicum.  Leodiens  scripseruntauctores  Leodii  anno  1613. 
torn.  ii.  Joan.  Hocsemii  Canon  Lend.  cap.  xxxv  Admiranda  de  JVicolao 
Jilio  cujusdam  moUndarii  Tribimo  Romance  urhis  affedo,  p  494.  et  seq. 

^  Conjuration  de  Nicolas  Gabrini  dit  de  Rienzi  Tyran  de  Rome  en 
1347,  ouvrage  posthume  du  R.  Pare  Du  Cerceau  de  la  compagnie  de 
Jesus  a  Paris,  1733. 


325 

mans  of  the  fourteenth  century,  they  are  now  for  the  first 
time  pubhshed,  together  with  the  three  papers  of  which  the 
Canon  of  Liege  has  also  furnished  a  copy.  The  original  has 
been  followed  literally,  and  those  words  which  are  most 
doubtful  have  been  printed  in  italics.  A  translation,  in  which 
the  sense  may  not  perhaps  have  been  always  divined  with 
equal  success,  has  been  confronted  with  the  Latin  Papers. 
It  will  be  seen  from  these  letters  that  Rienzi,  like  Cromwell, 
adopted  a  spiritual  tone  in  his  official  discourses;  and  by  no 
means  openly,  or,  at  least,  in  the  first  instance,  declared 
against  the  authority  of  the  Pope.  The  Abbe  de  Sade  has 
argued  at  length  against  the  supposed  citation  of  the  Pope  by 
Rienzi,  when  the  tribune  commanded  the  rival  Emperors  to 
appear  before  his  tribunal  ;  but  the  continuer  of  Baronius 
seems  to  have  seen  proofs  of  that  temerity  in  the  Vatican, 
and  has  published  the  excommunication  of  Rienzi  by  Clement 
VL  The  Liege  annals  contain  a  long  letter  from  Rienzi  to 
Raynaldo  de'  Ursi,  Papal  notary,  excusing  himself  for  the 
irregularities  of  his  conduct  on  the  day  of  his  knighthood, 
and  defending  the  bathing  in  Constantine's  Vase,  and  the 
other  arrogant  or  puerile  ceremonies  which  had  alienated  the 
affection  of  his  former  admirers. 


326 


TKIBUNUS    SENATUI    POPULOftUE    ROMANO. 

fixultent  in  circuitu  vestro  montes,  induantur  colles  gaudio^- 
et  universe  planities,  atque  vestra  Romana  civitas,  et  valles 
pacem  germinent,  ubertate  foecundentur,  et  eterna  laetitia  re- 
pleantur.     Resurgat  Romana  civitas  diuturne  prostracionis  a 
lapsu,  solium  .so/i7e  majestatis  ascendens,  vestitus  viduitatis  de- 
ponat  et  lugubres,  sponsalem  induat  purpuram,  liberum  diade- 
ma  caput  exornet,   colla  manilibus  muniat,   resumat  justitie 
sceptrum,  ac  totis  circumfulta,  et  renovata  virtutibus,  tanquam 
sponsa  ornata,  se  placituram  sponso  suo  exhibeat.     Exciten- 
tur  sacerdotes  ejus,  etproceres,  seniores  ejus,  et  juvenes  ma- 
trone,  pupilli  simul  et  virgines,  omnisque  Romanus  exercitus 
in  voce  salutis  attonitus,  flexis  in  terram  genibus,  fixis  in  coelum 
ociilis,  palmis  erectis  ad  sidera,  laetissimis  animis  devotissimis 
mentibus,  gratias  Deo  referrant,  et  gloriam  resonant  in  excel- 
sis.     Ecce  udinque  cteli  aperti  sunt,  et  Dei  gloria,  Dei  patris 
orta  lux  Christi ;  Spiritus  Sancti  lumen  effundens  nobis  inter 
tenebrosas  habitantibus  umbras  mortis  preparavit  gratiam  ino- 
pinate  et  admirabilis  claritatis.     Ecce  quidem  clementissimus 
Agnus  Dei,    peccata  confundens,  sanctissimus  vir  Romanus 
Pontifex,  Pater  Urbis,  Sponsus  et  Dominus  sue  sponse  clamo- 
ribus,  querelis,  et  luctibus  excitatus,  compaciensque  suis  cla- 
dibus,  calamitatibus,  et  minis,  ad  renovacionem  ipsius  urbis, 
gloriam  plebisque,  attonitus,  mundi  leticiam,  et  salutem,  in- 
spiracione  sancti  Spiritus,  sinum  clementie  sue  graciosus  ape- 
riens,  misericordiam  nobis  propinavit,  et  gratiam,  ac  universo 
mundo  redempcionem  promittit,  et  remissionem  gentibus  pec- 
catorum.     Etenim  post  honorabilem  ambiaxate  nostre  suppli- 
cacionem  non  humano,  verum  divino  consilio  conformatam, 
[perhabita  deliberacione    matura   Dominorum   Cardinalium, 
omniumque  Romane  curie  prelatorum,  diversis  ac  variis  Un- 
guis in  divinam  consonantibus  voluntatem  Spiritus,  sancti  ora- 
cionibus,  ac  missis  per  universas  Christianorum  Ecclesias  ce- 
lebratis,]  die  vigesima  septima  mensis  hujusmodi  in  magna  fre- 
quentia  populi  jorec/an  Romani  exercitus  vocem  gratie  expec- 
tantis,  solempnissime,  immo  angelico  premisso  sermone,  in 
voce  salutis,  et  leticie,  decreto  apostolico  ad  futurum  quinquar 


327 


7%e  Tribune  to  the  Senate  and  the  Roman  peopU. 

Let  the  mountains  around  you  exult !  Let  the  hills,  and  the 
plains,  and  your  city  of  Rome  be  covered  with  joy  ;  and  may 
the  valleys  shed  peace,  and  be  abundantly  fruitful,  and  filled 
with  everlasting  gladness !  May  the  Roman  city,  ascending 
the  throne  of  her  wonted  majesty,  rise  for  ever  from  the  fall 
of  her  long  prostration !  Let  her  cast  off  the  garment  of  wi- 
dowhood and  mourning,  and  put  on  the  bridal  purple  !  Let  her 
head  be  adorned  with  the  diadem  of  liberty,  and  her  neck 
strengthened  with  collars  !  Let  her  resume  the  sceptre  of  jus- 
tice, and,  strong  and  regenerate  in  every  virtue,  like  a  fair- 
dressed  bride,  let  her  show  herself  to  her  bridegroom !  May 
her  priests  and  elders,  her  young  and  old  matrons,  her  orphans 
and  virgins  be  raised,  and,  with  the  whole  Roman  army, 
roused  by  the  voice  of  salvation,  on  bended  knees,  with  eyes 
fixed  on  heaven,  and  hands  lifted  to  the  stars,  give  thanks  and 
sing  glory  toGod  in  the  highest  with  minds  most  cheerful  and 
most  devout.  For  behold  the  heavens  are  opened,  and  the 
glory  of  God,  the  light  of  God  the  Father  of  Christ  has 
arisen ;  which,  shedding  upon  us  the  rays  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
amidst  the  dark  shadows  of  death,  has  prepared  for  us  the 
grace  of  unexpected  and  wonderful  brightness.  Behold,  in- 
deed, the  most  merciful  Lamb  of  God,  confounding  our  sins, 
the  most  holy  man,  the  Roman  Pontiff,  the  Father  of  our  city, 
the  bridegroom  and  Lord,  roused  by  the  clamour*  and  plaints 
and  wailings  of  his  bride,  and  compassionating  her  sufferings, 
disasters  and  destructions,  amazed  at  the  regeneration  of  his 
city  and  exultation  of  the  people,  and  at  the  gladness  and  sal- 
vation of  the  world,  being  also  inspired  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 
graciously  opening  the  bosom  of  his  clemency,  has  acquired 
for  us  grace  and  mercy,  and  promised  redemption  to  the 
world,  and  forgiveness  to  sinners.  For,  after  the  honourable 
supplication  of  our  Embassy,  ordained,  not  by  human  but  di- 
vine counsel,  (inasmuch  as  it  was  sent  after  a  mature  delibera- 
tion of  the  Lords  Cardinals,  and  of  all  the  prelates  of  the 
Roman  Senate,  many  and  various  tongues  according  with  the 
divine  will  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  discourses  and  masses  cele- 


328 

geeimum,  et  sic  deinceps  perpetuo,  annum,  promulgavit  et 
edidit  jubileum ;  nee  non  oblatum  sibi  urbis  dominium  grata 
voluntate  suscipiensj  visitacionem  sedis  apostolice  post  sedata 
Gallorum   scandala,  cum   inefFabili   novit   affectu,   sermone, 
•^^ultu,  manibus,  toto  decoro  corpore  totis  signis  exterioribus, 
ultra  quam  dici  poterit,  animosis.     Cum  itaque,  fratres  karis- 
simi,  a  domino  factum  sit  istud  mirabile  quoddam  in  oculis  in- 
tuencium  non  aliter  nisi  ut  civitas  vestra,  Sponsa  Romani 
Pontificis,  expurgata  viciorum  vepribus,  suasibus  renovata  vir- 
tutibus  in  odorem  uiiguentorum  suorum  vernarum  suscipiat 
sponsum  suum.     Idcirco  letis  vos  precamur  in  lacrimis  arden- 
tibus  extorquamur  exortam  affectihus,  quatenus,  depositis  fer- 
reis  armis,  guerrarum  flammis  extinctis,  mundificatis  cordibus 
gratis  desideriis,  haec  grata,  base  divina  munera,  base  dona  cae- 
lestia  capiatis,  magnificantes  in  hjmnis,  psalmis  jubilantes,  et 
laudibus,  nomen  Domini  nostri  Jesu  Christi,  necnon  clemen- 
tissimo  successori  ejus  Domino  nostro  summo  Pontifici  humiles 
gratias  referentes,  in  cujus  labiis  gratia  divina  diffusa  renovati 
estis,  et  benedicti  eciam  in  eternum,  insignem  purpura,  et  auro 
ejus  sculptam  iraaginem  in  Romano  amphitheatre,  seu  capito- 
lio  statuentes,  ut  ipsius  clementissimi  Patris,  patriae,  auctoris, 
et  Uberatoris  urbis  eterne,  vivat  in  posteros  leta  et  gloriosa 
memoria  nullorum    diuturnitate   temporum   peritura.     Quis 
enim  Scipio,  quis  Cassar,  quis  Metellus,  Marcellus,  Fabius  li- 
beratores  patrie  veteribus  rencensemus  annahbus,  et  inextin- 
guabiH  dignos  memoria  judicamus,  quorum  solempnes  effigies 
in  preciosis  lapidibus  sculptas  pro  virtutis  memoria  et  splen- 
dore  miramur,  tanta  tanquam  gloria  decorare  patriam  potuis- 
sent?  llli  quidem  armati  in  bellorum  austeritatibus  mundi  ca- 
lamitatibus,  morte  et  sanguine  civium  perituras  paruere  victo- 
rias.    Hie  non  rogatus  cum  omnium  vita,  leticia  civium,  et 
salute,  immortales,  ae  eternos  subjeeit  oculis  posteritatis  et 
nostris  solo  verbo  triumphos.     Konne  hie  est  qui  spiritualibus 
telis  armatus  exurgens,  adversus  presentes,  futurasque  calami- 
tates  patrie,  providum  bellum  gerens,  omnem  miseriam  ino- 
pum,  gentium  pauperum,  Romane  reipublice  debilitate,  ac 
paratam  desperate  plebis  mortem,  uno  sanctissimo  ac  trium- 
phali  verbo  delevit  ?  Venerandam  itaque  et  colendam  hujus 
Patris  memoriam  Romanum  genus  ceterorura  memoriis  ante- 


329 

brated  in  every  Christian  Church,)  He  {the  Pope)  did  on  Ihc 
27th  day  of  this  month,  in  a  great  assembly  of  the  noble  Ro- 
man people  and  army,  then  expecting  the  voice  of  grace,  most 
solemnly,  and  in  an  oration  truly  angelica!  and  full  of  salva- 
tion and  gladness,  proclaim  and  ordain  a  Jubilee  by  an  Apos- 
tolic decree  on  the  coming  fiftieth  year,  and  so  on  successive- 
ly, assuming  at  the  same  time  with  gratitude  the  government 
of  the  city  which  was  offered  him,  and  accepting  the  visita- 
tion of  the  Apostolic  Seat  when  the  scandal  of  the  French  re- 
sidence* shall  have  been  put  an  end  to  ;  which  offers  he  heard 
with  an  ineffable  expression  of  speech,  and  countenance,  and 
hands,  and  was  in  his  decorous  person,  and  indeed  in  all  exte- 
rior appearances,  animated  beyond  description. 

Since,  therefore,  my  dearest  brethren,  that  miracle  has  been 
done  in  the  presence  of  all  of  you,  insomuch  that  your  city, 
the  bride  of  the  Roman  Pontiff,  cleansed  from  the  thorns  of 
her  vices,  and  regenerate  in  virtue,  receives  her  bridegroom 
into  the  odours  of  her  own  vernal  perfumes,  we  beseech  you 
with  ardent  tears  of  joy  to  cast  off  your  iron  armour,  to  ex- 
tinguish the  flames  of  war,  and  with  hearts  cleansed  of  all 
your  cherished  desires,  to  accept  these  precious  divine  gifts, 
magnifying  and  extolling  in  hymns  and  psalms  the  name  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  offering  our  humble  thanks  to  his  suc^ 
cessor  our  Lord  the  supreme  Pontiff,  by  whom  ye  are  regene- 
rate and  blessed  for  ever,  through  the  divine  grace  poured 
forth  from  his  lips  :  and  do  ye  place  his  image,  adorned  with 
purple  and  gold,  in  the  Amphitheatre,  that  the  memory  of  the 
most  merciful  Father  of  his  country,  the  founder  and  liberator 
of  the  Eternal  City,  may  live  renowned  and  survive  all  time. 
For  what  Scipio,  what  Caesar,  what  Metellus,  Marcellus,  Fa- 
bius, — names  of  ancient  renown,  and  whom  as  liberators  of 
their  coujitry  we  deem  worthy  of  imperishable  memory,  and 
whose  venerable  and  precious  statues  are  admired  as  monu- 
ments of  their  virtue,  and  also  for  their  splendour, — who  of 
them  have  adorned  their  country  with  so  much  glory  ? — They, 
indeed,  in  arms,  and  amidst  the  hardships  of  war,  and  the  mi- 
series of  mankind,  and  the  blood  and  destruction  of  their  fel- 

*  Avignon. 


330 

^lat,  presentes  predicent,  et  levata  nacio  future  posteritatis 
expectet,  honorificantes  denique  urbem  ac  vestrara  sanctissi- 
mam  tantis  muneribus  dignam,  tantis  honoribus  celitus  valida- 
tam,  per  quam,  fratres  carissimi,  nisi  solutis  viciorum  calcia- 
mentis,  et  innocentibus,  ac  mundatis  pedibus  ambulare  genti- 
bus  non  liceret,  quoniam  locus  in  quo  statis,  et  vivitis,  terra 
verissime  sancta  est. 

Annunciando  denique  vobis  id  gaudium,  quod  si  Dominus 
noster  summus  Pontifex  per  banc  celestem  gratiam  vos  vir- 
tutes,  et  vicia  expurgare,  optata  sibi  fama  dictante,  perceperit, 
apertis  tociens  clemencie  suae  alis  ad  visitacioriem  dilecte  ur- 
bis  sue,  cum  comitiva  apostolorum,  cicius,  quam  gentes  crede- 
rent,  transvolabit. 

Nicolaus  Laurencii,  Romanus  Consul,  orphanorum,  vidua- 
rum,  et  pauperium  unicus  popularis  legatus  ad  Dorainum  nog- 
tram  Romanum  Pontificem  animo,  manuque  propriis.* 


*  This  letter  is  marked,  fol.  182.  v.  183.  of  the  Codex  Taurinensis,  and 
jbas  never  before  been  published. 


331 

low  citizens,  obtained  victories  :  but  he,  unsolicited,  has  pre- 
pared for  our  eyes  and  those  of  posterity,  triumphs  immortal 
and  eternal  by  giving  life  to  all,  and  happiness  and  safety  to 
the  state,  by  his  word  alone !  Is  it  not  he,  who,  armed  with 
spiritual  weapons,  warring  against  the  present  and  future  cala- 
mities of  his  country,  has  relieved  the  misery  of  nations,  made 
wretched  and  poor  by  the  weakness  of  the  Roman  common- 
wealth, and  has  driven  away  from  the  despairing  people  the 
death  which  was  ready  for  them,  and  has  done  all  this  by  one 
most  holy  and  triumphant  word  ? 

Let  the  Roman  race,  therefore,  prefer  the  venerable  memo- 
ry of  this  their  Father  to  the  memory  of  all  others :  let  the 
present  people  foretel,  and  let  our  rising  posterity  hope  for 
another  such  !  Finally,  let  us  honour  your  most  holy  city  wor- 
thy of  such  great  gifts,  and  strengthened  with  so  great  glory 
from  above,  and  through  which,  my  dearest  brethren,  it  is  not 
permitted  for  the  nations  to  walk  except  the  sandals  of  their 
vices  be  loosened,  and  their  feet  be  clean  and  innocent,  for 
verily  the  soil  on  which  you  stand  and  live  is  holy ! 

Lastly,  I  announce  these  glad  tidings  to  you,  that  if  our 
master  the  high  Pontiflf  should  receive  a  previous  report  of 
your  purification  by  means  of  the  divine  grace,  he  will  open 
the  wings  of  his  repeated  clemency,  and  fly  to  visit  his  belov- 
ed city  with  the  company  of  his  Apostles  quicker  than  the 
nations  do  expect. 

Nicolas  the  son  of  Laurentius,  the  Roman  Consul,  the  only 
Legate  of  the  people,  for  the  Orphans,  the  Widows,  and  the 
Poor,  to  our  master  the  supreme  Pontiff,  of  his  own  will,  apd 
with  his  own  hand. 


4.0 


332 


Copia  lUerarum,  que  fuerunt  misse  ad  Curiam  de  Us,  que  fat- 
runt  gesta  in  parlamento  facto  per  Tribunum  Rome  coram 
Ambaxiatoribus  Italie,  seu  hnperio,  et  ejus  jurisdicionibus. 


In  honorem  et  gloriam  summi  Dei  Patrls,  et  spiritus  Sancti 
filii ;  beatorum  Apostolorum  Petri,  et  Pauli ;  et  Sancti  Joanni 
Baptiste,  in  cujus  sacratissimo  templo  in  Roma,  videlicit  sa- 
cratissimi  principis  gloriam  militarem  accepimus,  prius  ful- 
gente  titulo  Spiritus  Sancti,  cujus  indignus  servus  miles  existi- 
mu*:  nee  non  ad  honorem  et  reverentiam  sancte  Romane 
Matris  Ecclesie,  et  Domini  nostri  summi  Pontiticis  statum 
prosperum  et  augmentum  sancte  Romane  urbis,  sacre  Italie, 
ct  tocius  fidei  Christiane.  Nos  candidatus  spiritus  sancti 
miles  Nicolaus,  Severus  et  Clemens,  Liberator  urbis,  Zelator 
Italie,  Amator  Orbis  et  Tribunus  Augustus,  volentes,  et  disi- 
derantes  donum  spiritus  sancti,  et  libertates  antiquorum  Ro- 
manorum  Principum,  quantum  nobis  permittitur,  imitari,  no- 
tum  facimus  universis,  quod  pridem  a  nobis  post  assumptum 
Tribunatus  officium  Romanus  Populus  de  consilio  omnium  et 
singulorum  jiidicura,  sapientura,  et  advocatorum  urbis,  recog- 
novit,  adhuc  se  habere  illam  auctoritatem,  potestatem,  atque 
jurisdictionem  in  toto  orbe  terrarum,  quas  habuit  a  principio 
et  summo  augmento  urbis  prefate,  et  omnia  privilegia  facta 
in  prejudicium  auctoritatis,  potestatis,  et  jurisdictionis,  anti- 
quam,  et  arbitrariam  potestatem  nobis  concessam  a  Romano 
Populo  in  publico  Parlamento,  et  nuper  a  Domino  nostro 
summo  Pontifice,  ut  patet  per  Apostolicas  Bullas  ejus,  ne  vi- 
deamur  de  dono,  et  gratia  spiritus  sancti  ingrati  vel  quomodo- 
libet  avari,  tam  Romano  Populo,  quam  Populis  sacre  Italie 
supradictis,  et  ne  per  negligentiam  jura,  et  jui^isdictionem  Ro- 
mani  Populi  permittamus  amplius  deperire,  auctoritate,  et 
gratia  Dei,  et  spiritus  sancti,  ac  sacri  Romani  Populi,  et  omni 
modo,  et  jure  ct  forma,  quibus  melius  possumus,  et  debemus, 
decernimus,  declaramus,  etpronnnciamus  ipsam  sanctam  Ro- 
manam  Urbem  Caput  orbis,  et  fondamentum  totius  fidei  chris- 
tiane, ac  omnes  et  singulas  civitates  Italie  liberas  esse,  et 


333 


Copy  of  the  Letters  which  were  sent  to  the  court  of  Rome  eon- 
cerning  the  Matters  which  were  settled  in  the  Parliament,  sum- 
moned hy  the  Roman  Tribune,  before  the  Ambassadors  of  Italy, 
or  of  the  Empire  and  its  Jurisdictions. 

To  the  honour  and  glory  of  God,  the  Father,  the  Most 
High,  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  of  the  Son  ;  of  the  blessed 
apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  and  of  the  holy  John  the  Baptist,  (in 
whose  most  sacred  temple  of  Rome,  \vc  received  indeed  the 
military  glory  of  a  most  holy  prince,  under  the  splendid  title 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,*  whose  unworthy  servant  and  soldier  we 
are),  and  to  the  honour  and  reverence  of  our  holy  mother  the 
Roman  Church,  the  prosperity  of  our  lord  the  supreme  Pon- 
tiff, and  to  the  increase  of  the  holy  Roman  city,  of  our  sa- 
cred Italy,  and  of  the  whole  Christian  Faith. 

We,  a  Knight  candidate  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  Nicholas,  the 
Severe  and  Merciful,  the  Liberator  of  the  city,  the  Defender 
of  Italy,  Lover  of  the  world,  Tribune  August,  wishing  and  de- 
siring the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  to  imitate  as  far  as  may 
be  permitted  us  the  powers  of  the  ancient  chiefs  of  Rome, 
MAKE  KNOWN  TO  ALL,  that,  whcreas,  since  our  assumption  of 
the  tribuneship,  the  Roman  people,  by  the  advice  of  all  and 
singular  their  judges,  sages,  and  advocates,  have  recognised, 
*hat  they  still  retain  the  same  authority,  power  and  jurisdiction 
over  the  whole  world,  which  they  held  from  the  beginning  and 
in  the  height  of  their  city  ;  and  still  have  all  privileges  granted 
to  others  in  prejudice  of  their  authority,  power  and  jurisdic- 
tion ;  and  that  the  ancient  and  supreme  powers  have  been 
granted  to  us  by  them  in  the  public  parliament,  and  lately  by 
our  lord  the  high  Pontiff,  as  appears  from  the  apostolic  bulls  ; 
and  whereas  we  would  not  seem  in  the  eyes  of  the  Roman 
people,  or  of  the  people  of  our  holy  Italy,  in  any  way  un- 
mindful or  covetous  of  this  gift  and  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
or  to  permit  the  people's  rights  and  jurisdiction  any  more  to 
be  invaded.  ^  ^  * 

*  Alluding  to  his  Knighthood  in  the  Lateran 


334 

easdem  ad  cautelam  integre  libertati  donamus,  et  omnes,  et 
singulos  Populos  tocius  sacre  Italic  liberos  esse  censemus,  et 
ex  nunc  omnes  prefatos  Populos,  ac  cives  civitatum  Italic  faci- 
mus,  declaramus,  et  pronunciamus  cives  esse  Romanos,  ac  Ro- 
mana  libertate  eos  volumus  gaudere.  Item  eadem  auctoritate, 
et  gratia  spiritus  sancti  ac  Romani  Populi  supradicti  dicimus, 
profitemur,  ac  eciam  declaramus,  Romanum  Imperium,  elec- 
tionem,  jurisdictionem,  et  monarchiam  tocius  sacri  imperii  ad 
ipsam  almam  urbem,  et  ejus  Populum,  nee  non  ad  universam 
Italiam  pertinere,  et  ad  easdem  esse  legitime  devolutas  multis 
rationalibus  causis,  quas  suo  loco,  et  tempore  declarari  facie- 
mus,  dantes,  et  prefigentes  in  his  scriptis  omnibus  et  singulis 
prelatis,  Imperatoribus  electis,  Lectoribus,  Regibus,  Ducibus, 
Principibus,  Marchionibus,  Populis,  Universitatibus,  et  qui- 
buscumque  aliis  in  specie,  et  eciam  cujuscumque  preeminen- 
cie  status,  et  condicionis  existant,  et  contradicere  volentibus, 
seu  in  electione  prefata,  ac  ipso  Imperio  jurisdictionem,  po- 
testatem,  et  auctoritatem  pretendentibus,  quoquomodo  ter- 
minum  hinc  ad  festum  Pasche,  Pentecostes  proxime  futurum, 
quod  infra  dictum  terminum  in  ipsa  alma  urbe  et  sacrosancta 
Lateranensi  Ecclesia,  coram  nobis,  et  aliis  officialibus  Domini 
nostri  Pape,  et  Romani  Populi  debeant  cum  eorum  juribus 
comparere,  alioquin  a  dicto  termino  in  antea  procedemus  se- 
cundum quod  de  jure  fuerit,  et  spiritus  sancti  gratia  monstra- 
bit :  Et  nihilominus  ad  predicta  omnia  in  specie,  et  in  com- 
muni  citari  fecimus  Illustres  Principes,  qui  se  asserunt  Romanos 
Imperatores,  vel  ad  Imperium  jam  electos  Dominum  Ludovi- 
cum  Ducem  Bavarie,  Dominum  Karolum  Regem  Boemie,  Do- 
minum DucemBavarie,*  Dominum  Ducem  Saxonie,  Dominum 
Marcbionem  Brandiburgensem,  Dominum  Archiepiscopum 
Trevesensem,  Dominum  Archiepiscopum  Coloniensem ; 
qui  in  dictis  terminis,  et  loco,  et  infra  terminum  predic- 
tum  coram  nobis,  et  aliis  officialibus  Romani  Populi  debe- 
ant personaliter  comparere,  alioquin,  ut  predicitur  proce- 
demus, eorum  absencia,  et  contumacia  non  obstante.  In 
predictis  autem  omnibus,  et  singulis  nostris  actibus,  pro- 
cessibus,  et  executionibus,  quibuscumque,  auctoritati,  ju- 
risdictioni  sancte  Matris  Ecclesie  Domini  nostri  Pape, 
ac  sacri  collegii  in  nullo  volumus  derogari.  Quinimo  volu- 
*  The  MSS.  have  two  Dukes  of  Bavaria. 


335 

We  do,  bj  the  authority  and  grace  of  God,  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  the  sacred  Roman  people,  and  by  every  means  legally 
and  formally  within  our  power  and  duty,  decree,  declare,  and 
pronounce  this  holy  city  of  Rome  the  capital  of  the  world, 
and  the  base  of  the  whole  Christian  faith,  and  all  and  every 
state  of  Italy  to  be  free,  and  we  guarantee  their  perfect  liber- 
ty, and  we  pronounce  all  the  people  of  our  sacred  Italy  free- 
men ;  and  from  this  time  we  do  make,  declare  and  pronounce 
all  the  above  people  and  citizens  of  the  Italian  states  to  be 
Roman  citizens,  and  we  would  have  them  to  enjoy  Roman 
liberty.  Moreover,  by  the  same  authority  and  grace  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  of  the  said  Roman  people,  we  do  acknow- 
ledge and  declare,  that  the  Roman  empire,  its  elections,  juris- 
dictions, and  the  monarchy  of  our  holy  empire,  belong  to  the 
cherished  city  itself,  its  people,  and  to  the  whole  of  Italy,  and 
have  devolved  to  the  same  by  many  reasonable  causes  which 
will  be  made  known  in  proper  time  and  place,  by  us  giving 
and  prefixing  them  to  these  our  writings  to  all  and  each  of  the 
Prelates,  Generals  elect.  Electors,  Kings,  Leaders,  Princes, 
Noblemen,  People,  Universities,  and  to  all  persons  of  what- 
soever state,  pre-eminence,  and  condition  they  may  be,  and 
to  those  pretending  to  any  jurisdiction,  power,  and  authority 
in  the  aforsaid  election  and  in  the  empire  itself,  from  this  time 
to  the  approaching  festivals  of  the  Passover  and  Pentecost ; — 
within  which  period  they  are  expected  to  appear  with  their 
pretensions  before  us,  and  the  other  officers  of  our  lord  the 
Pope,  and  before  the  Roman  people  in  this  cherished  city  it- 
self, and  in  the  holy  Lateran  Church,  otherwise  we  shall  pro- 
ceed against  them  from  the  said  period,  according  to  law,  and 
to  the  suggestions  of  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Moreover,  we  have  caused  to  be  summoned  severally  and 
collectively  for  all  the  aforesaid  purposes,  the  illustrious 
princes,  who  call  themselves  Roman  Emperors,  or  who  are 
now  chosen  to  the  empire,  Lewis,  Duke  of  Bavaria,  Charles, 
King  of  Bohemia,  the  Duke  of  Bavaria,  Duke  of  Saxony,  the 
Marquis  of  Brandenburgh,  the  Archbishops  of  Treves  and 
Cologn,  whom  we  expect  will  appear  in  person  before  us  and 
the  other  officers  of  the  Roman  people,  in  the  said  limits  and 
places,  and  within  the  aforesaid  period  :  otherwise  we  shall 


336 

mus  ad  augmentum,  et  honorem  semper  actus  nostros  dirigere. 
ut  tenemur,  per  omnia  revereri.  In  dictione  quinta,  die  pri- 
ma mensis  Augusti  publicata  fuerunt  predicta.  coram  Romano 
Populo,  acceptata,  et  approbata  per  ipsum  Populum  existen- 
tem  in  Platea  Lateranensi,  presente  Domino  Vicario  Domini 
nostri  Pape,  Domino  Paulo  De  Comite,  Domino  Jotfredo 
Sooceo,  fratre  Jacobo  Preceptore  sancti  Spiritus,  fratre  Hu- 
golino  ordinis  predicatorum,  Domino  Francisco  de  Veiletris 
Judice,  Domino  Mattheo  de  Reate  Judice,  Paulo  Angeli  de 
Fuscis,  Domino  Nicolao  Nicole,  Domino  Ubaldino  Pictoris  de 
Eugubio,  Domino  Vugacione  Petri  de  Eugubio,  et  Serguiccio 
Ramacone  de  Eugubio.* 


*♦  This  is  marked  fol.  174,  of  the  Index,  and  has  been  published  in  Hoc- 
seraius.  It  is  here,  however,  copied  frona  the  Turin  MSS.  as  it  contains 
the  famous  and  foolish  citation  of  ^e  rival  Emperors. 


337 

proceed  against  them  as  above-mentioned,  notwithstanding 
their  absence  and  contumacy.  But  in  all  and  each  of  our 
aforesaid  acts,  processes,  and  administrations,  we  wouldonno 
account  derogate  from  the  authority  and  jurisdiction  of  our 
holy  mother  church,  our  lord  the  Pope,  and  the  sacred  col- 
lege ;  on  the  contrary,  we  would  direct  all  our  acts  to  their 
increase  and  honour,  and,  as  we  are  bound,  reverence  them 
in  all  things. 

The  aforesaid  were  published  in  the  5th  Indiction,  on  the 
first  day  of  August,  accepted  before  the  Roman  people,  and 
with  their  approbation,  in  the  street  of  the  Lateran ;  present 
the  vicar  of  our  Lord,  the  Pope,  Paulus  de  Comus,  Jofredus 
Sooceus,  his  brother,  James  the  preceptor  of  the  fraternity  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  and  his  brother  Ugolino,  of  the  order  of 
Preachers,  Francis  judge  of  Velletri,  Matthew  judge  of  Reate, 
Paulus  Angelus  of  Fusci,  Nicolaus  Nicolaus,  Ubaldinus  Pictor 
of  Eugubium,  Eugacio  the  son  of  Peter,  of  Eugubium,  and 
Serguiccius  Ramaco,  of  Eugubium. 


338 


Copia  literarum,  quas  misit  Tribunus  Populo  et  Universtiati  Vi- 
terhii  de  obedienfia,  ac  subsidio  requisitis  per  eum  pro  repub- 
lica  gubernanda. 

Auctore  clementissimo  Domino  nostro  Jesu  Christo.  Nico- 
laus,  Severus  et  Clemens,  Libertatis,  pacis,  justicieque  Tri- 
bunus, et  sacre  Romane  rei  publice  Liberator,  nobilibus  et 
prudentibus  viris,  Potestati,  Capitaneo,  Bonis  Hominibus, 
Sindico,  Consilio,  et  Communi  Civitatis  Viterbii  in  Tuscia 
constitutis,  sacri  Romani  Populi  filiis,  et  devotis,  salutem,  et 
cum  reconciliacione  Dei  pacem  et  justiciam  venerari. 

Denunciamus  vobis  id  gaudium  Domini  sancti  Spiritus, 
quod  pius  Pater,  et  Dominus  noster  Jesus  Christus  in  hac 
Veneranda  die  festivitatis  Pasche  Pentecoste  per  inspiracionem 
sanctam  hujus  sancte  urbis,  et  populo  ejus,  ac  et  vobis  et 
omnibus  fidelibus  populis  viris,  qui  nostra  membra  consistunt, 
dignatus  est  miseracorditer  elargiri.  Sane  cum  status  ipsius 
alme  urbis,  et  populi,  ac  tocius  Romane  Provincie  pravorum, 
et  crudelium  rectorum  et  destructorum  ipsius  esset  ex  omni 
parte  quassatus,  in  perdicionem,  et  miserabilem  destrucionem 
jam  deducitur,  adeoque  intime  in  eadem  alma  urbe  omnis  erat 
mortificata  justicia,  pax  expulsa,  prostrata  libertas,  ablata 
securitas,  dampnata  caritas,  misericordia  et  devocio  pro- 
phanate,  quod  nondum  extranei  et  peregrini  veri  Christi  cives 
Romani  carissimi  provinciales  ad  comitatum  nostri  nullatenus 
ibidem  venire  poterant,  vel  inibi  remenare  securi,  quinmino 
oppressiones  undique,  sediciones,  hostilitates,  et  guerre,  dis- 
truciones  animalium,  incendia  intus  et  extra,  marique,  con- 
tinue efTrenatissime  penetrabantur,  cum  magnis  ipsius  sancte 
urbis,  et  totius  Romane  provincie  periculis,  jacturis  et  damp- 
nis  animarum,  bonorum  et  corporum,  et  detrimento  non 
modico  totius  fidei  christiane  heu !  jam  diminute,  et  quasi 
totaliter  derelicte  erant  peregrinaciones,  et  visitaciones  in- 
dulgenciarum  et  itinerum  Sanctissimorum  Apostolorum  Petri, 
et  Pauli  civium,  principumque  nostrorum,  et  aliorum  sancto- 
rum Apostolorum  quorum  octo  in  eadem  urbe  corpora  requi- 


339 


Copy  of  the  Letters  which  the  Tribune  sent  to  the  People  and 
University  of  Viterbo^  concerning  the  Obedience  and  Assis- 
tance required  from  them  in  the  Government  of  the  Republic, 

Under  the  authority  of  our  most  merciful  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  Nicolas,  the  Severe  and  Merciful,  of  liberty,  peace, 
and  justice,  the  Tribune,  and  the  Liberator  of  the  sacred 
Roman  republic,  to  the  Noble  and  Prudent  Men,  to  the  Po- 
desta,  to  the  Captain,  to  the  Good  Men,  to  the  Sindic,  to  the 
Council,  and  to  the  constituted  authorities  of  the  Tuscan  city 
of  Viterbo,  the  devoted  children  of  the  Roman  people, 
health,  and  through  the  reconciliation  of  God,  the  love  of 
peace  and  justice. 

We  announce  to  you  the  joy  of  the  Lord  the  Holy  Spirit, 
which  on  the  venerable  day  of  the  festival  of  the  passover, 
our  pious  father  and  Lord,  Jesus  Christ,  has  vouchsafed  in 
his  mercy  to  bestow  upon  his  people,  and  upon  you,  aad  all 
the  faithful  who  compose  our  members,  through  the  holy  in- 
spirations of  this  sacred  city.  Verily,  when  the  state  of  the 
cherished  city  itself,  of  the  people,  and  the  whole  Roman 
province,  was  convulsed  on  every  side,  and  reduced  to  per- 
dition and  wretched  ruin,  by  its  depraved,  and  cruel,  and 
destroying  rulers, — and  justice  was  so  inwardly  death-stricken 
in  the  same  city,  tranquillity  so  expelled,  liberty  so  prostrate, 
security  so  taken  away,  charity  so  injured,  and  piety  and  de- 
votion so  profaned,  that  the  foreign  pilgrims,  the  true  citi- 
zens of  Christendom,  and  our  very  dear  Roman  provincials, 
could  not  reach  our  convocations,  or  remain  in  Ihein  secure- 
ly. But  owing  to  the  oppressions  on  every  side,  the  sedi- 
tions, hostilities,  and  wars,  the  ravage  of  living  beings,  the 
conflagrations  which,  within  and  without,  upon  the  land,  and 
on  the  waters  were  continually  raging,  with  great  danger  to 
the  sacred  city  itself,  and  of  the  whole  Roman  province, 
frith  the  loss  and  destruction  of  soul,  and  body,  and  proper- 
ty, and  with  no  small  detriment  to  the  whole  Christian  faith, 
ROW,  alas;  decayed !  the  pilgrimages  and  the  visitation  for 

43 


340 

escuiit,  et  sanctorum  infinitoi'um  Martyrum,  atque  virginum, 
in  quorum  sanguine  ipsa  sancta  civitas  est  fundata  ;  nee  mi- 
randum  erat,  quin  ipsa  sancta  civitas,  que  ad  consolacionem 
animarum  constmcta  fuit,  et  que  fidelium  omnium  debet  esse 
lefugium,  facta  erat  offensionis  silva,  ef  spelunca  latronum 
pocius  quam  civitas  apparebat ;  vos  etiam,  et  alii  devoti  po- 
puli  nostri  nullum  ab  ipsa  urbe  poteratis  percipere  consilium, 
auxilium,  vel  favorem,  qui  primo  sub  specie  senatus,  sub 
nomine  capitaneatus,  sub  colore  milicie  eratis  oppressi,  et 
injuste  sepius  lacerati.  Igitur  prefatus  Pater  et  Dominus  nos- 
ter  Jesus  Christus  ad  preces,  ut  credimus,  Beatorum  Petri  et 
Pauli  apostolorum,  civium  principum  et  custodum  nostrorum, 
misericorditer  excitatus,  ad  consolacionem  non  solum  Roma- 
norum  civium,  verum  tocius  nostre  provincie  comitatum,  pe- 
regrinorum,  et  aliorum  omnium  fidelium  Christianorum,  ip- 
sum  Romanum  popuium  inspiracione  spiritus  sancti  adverita- 
tem,  et  concordiam  revocavit,  ad  desiderium  libertatis,  jus- 
ticie,  inflammavit,  et  ad  salutem,  et  defensionem  suam,  et 
nostram  mirabiliter  illustravit,  et  ad  observacionem  perpe- 
tuam  bone  voluntatis,  sancte,  et  juste  deliberacionis  eorum  : 
idem  populus,  nobis,  licet  indigno,  plenam,  et  liberam  po- 
t6statem,  et  auctoritatem  reformandi,  et  conservandi  statum 
pacificum  dicte  urbis,  et  tocius  Romane  provincie,  ac  libe- 
rum  professus  arbitrium  commisit,  et  concessit  in  suo  publico, 
et  solempnissimo  Parlamento,  ac  plena  concordia  tocius  po- 
puli  prelibati.  Nos  autem,  licet  ad  supportacionem  tanti 
oneris  humeros  nostros  insufficientes,  et  debiles  cognoscamus  ; 
tamen,  apertissime  cognoscentes,  quod  a  Domino  factum  est 
istud,  et  est  mirabilius  in  oculis  nostris,  et  de  gratia  Dei,  et 
beatorum  Petri,  et  Pauli,  ejus  gratia,  et  favore  confisi,  ac  de 
Romani  populi  nostris,  et  tocius  Romane  provincie  sequelis. 
et  suffragiis  spem  habentes,  auctoritatem,  et  potestatem  pre- 
dictas  devoto  corde,  et  animo  virili  suscepimus,  et  ad  refor- 
macionem,  et  renovacionem  justicie,  libertatis,  et  securita- 
tis,  statusque  pacifici  prefate  Romane  urbis,  ac  totius  pro- 
vincie, oculos  nostre  mentis  direximus,  et  prosequi  intendi- 
mus  viriliter,  etpotenter,  secundum  ordinem  antique  justicie, 
per  virtutem  juste,  fortisque  milicie  moderacione  :  Quaprop- 
ter  nobilitatem,  prudeaciam  et  devocionem  vestram  presen- 


341 

indulgences,  and  to  the  shrines  of  the  most  holy  apostles, 
Peter  and  Paul,  our  citizens  and  chiefs,  and  of  other  holy 
apostles,  eight  of  whose  bodies  rest  in  this  city,  and  of  innu- 
merable holy  martyrs  and  virgins,  in  whose  blood  the  very 
city  itself  is  founded,  became  as  it  were  totally  abandoned  : 
nor  was  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  holy  city  itself,  which 
was  made  for  the  comfort  of  our  souls,  and  should  be  the  re- 
fuge of  all  the  faithful,  became  a  forest  of  crimes,  and  re- 
sembled a  den  of  thieves  more  than  a  city :  ye  also  and 
others  of  our  devoted  people  were  not  able  to  obtain  counsel, 
or  assistance,  or  favour  from  the  city,  but  were  oppressed, 
and  oftentimes  unjustly  injured  first  by  what  was  called  a  Se- 
nate, then  under  the  name  of  a  Capitanate,  and  with  the  pre- 
text of  military  service. 

Wherefore  our  aforesaid  Father  and  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
moved  with  compassion,  as  we  believe,  by  the  prayers  of  the 
blessed  apostles,  Peter  and  Paul,  our  chief  citizens  and  guar- 
dians, hath  (for  the  comforting  not  only  of  our  Roman  citi- 
zens, but  of  all  the  provinces  and  counties  and  of  all  pilgrims 
and  other  faithful  Christians)  recalled  this  very  Roman  peo- 
ple to  truth  and  concord  by  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  hath  inflamed  them  with  a  desire  of  liberty  and  justice, 
and  enlightened  them  for  their  security,  for  their  own  and  our 
defence,  and  for  the  perpetual  observance  of  good  will,  of 
holy,  and  upright  judgment.  And  this  same  people  hath,  of 
their  own  free  will,  and  unanimous  accord  in  their  public  and 
most  solemn  parliament,  granted  and  intrusted  to  us,  though 
unworthy,  full  and  free  power  and  authority  to  reform  and 
preserve  the  tranquil  state  of  the  said  city,  and  of  the  whole 
Roman  province — and,  notwithstanding  we  feel  our  shoul- 
ders insufficient,  and. too  weak  for  so  great  a  load,  yet,  see- 
ing most  clearly  that  it  is  the  work  of  the  Lord,  and  is  a  mi- 
racle in  our  eyes,  and  trusting,  through  the  grace  of  God, 
and  the  blessed  Peter  and  Paul,  to  his  grace  and  favour,  and 
'  relying  on  the  followers  and  suffrages  of  the  Roman  people, 
and  of  the  whole  Roman  province,  we  have  with  a  devout 
heart  and  manly  resolution  taken  upon  ourselves  the  afore- 
said authority  and  power,  and  have  directed  the  eyes  of  our 
mind  to  the  reform  and  regeneration  of  justice,  liberty,  se- 


342 

tibus  exhortamur,  gratias  reddatis  altissimo  salvatori,  ac 
sanctissimis  apostolis  suis,  quoniam  in  tempus  afflictionis,  et 
desperacioiiis  propinaveniut  Romano  populo,  ac  nobis  conso- 
lacionis  remedium,  ac  salutis  ;  suscipientes  et  participantes 
nobiscum  hoc  donum  Dei  cum  magna  leticia,  gestis  et  gau- 
diis  manifestis ;  necnon  ad  domandum  protinus,  et  proteren- 
<Zm//i  superb] am,  et  tirampnidem  quoumcunque  rebellium;  cre- 
dentes  hunc  statum  vobis  a  Christo  concessum  impedire  quo- 
modolibet,  vel  turbare  statum,  propulsata  campana  commu- 
nis, et  preconibus  destinatis  sollicitatis  populum,  et  com- 
mune ad  preparandum  se  armis,  equis,  et  ceteris  opportunis 
ad  exercitum,  et  destrucionem  eorum,  et  exterminium  mani- 
festuni,  et  sub  protecione  Dei,  et  vexillo  sancte  justicie  cum 
manibus  nostris,  superbie  et  tirampnides  confundentur,  et 
libertas,  pax,  et  justitia  per  totam  Romanam  provinciam  re- 
formetur.  Nihilominus  vobis  tenore  presentium,  sub  fide, 
legalitate,  et  pena  arbitraria  precipimus,  et  mandamus,  qua- 
tenus  infra  tres  dies  post  asignacionem  presentium,  mictatig 
ad  nos  duos  sjndicos,  et  ambaxiatores  ydoneos  vestra  terre 
ad  consilium,  et  Parlamentum,  que  intendimus  in  eis  diebus 
in  Romanorum  commodo  ad  salutem,  et  pacem  tocitus  nostre 
provincic  celebrare  :  volumusque,  et  in  signum  caritatis  et 
amoris  presentibus  postulamus,  quatenus  unum  sapientum 
juris  peritum,  quern  vos  duxeritis  eligendum,  ad  nos  particu- 
lariterdestinetis,  quem  ex  nunc  in  wwrnero  judicum  consistorii 
nostri  cum  salario,  gagiis,  et  muneribus  conjunctis  pro  sex 
mensibus  deputamus.  Datum  in  Capitolio,  vigesimo  quarto 
mensis  Maii  decima  quinta  indicione.* 

*  This  is  marked  fol.  166  in  the  Turin  MSS.  and  has  never  been  printed 
before.  It  has  not  been  thought  worth  while  to  make  any  attempt  at 
emendations :  the  style  and  historical  notices,  not  the  language,  being  the 
principal  object  of  publishing  these  letters.  The  absence  of  the  diph- 
(hong  is  observable  throughout  the  whole  of  the  manuscript. 


343 

curity,  and  tranquillity  of  the  aforesaid  Roman  city,  and 
whole  province,  and  we  will  resolutely  and  strenuously  follow 
up  the  order  of  ancient  justice,  by  virtue  of  a  constitutional 
and  moderately  strong  army. 

We  therefore  recommend  it  to  your  dignity,  and  prudence, 
and  devotion,  to  return  thanks  to  the  most  high  Saviour,  and 
to  his  holy  apostles,  because  that  in  the  season  of  affliction 
and  despair  they  have  greeted  the  Roman  people  and  us  with 
comfort  and  salvation,  partaking  and  participating  with  us 
in  this  gift  of  God  with  exceeding  gladness  and  manifest  signs 
of  joy.  We  exhort  you  also  to  subdue  and  quell  the  pride, 
tyranny,  and  rebellion  of  those  who  think  to  harass  and  con- 
found this  state,  granted  us  by  Christ,  in  whatsoever  manner 
it  may  be  :  do  you  by  sounding  the  alarm  bell,  or  by  the  pub- 
lic criers  destined  for  that  purpose,  summon  the  people  and 
Commune  to  equip  themselves  with  arms,  horses,  and  other 
warlike  materials  for  the  destruction  of  any  such,  and  for  their 
manifest  extermination  :  so  that  under  the  protection  of  God, 
and  the  standard  of  holy  justice  in  our  hands,  may  their  pride 
and  usurpation  be  confounded,  and  liberty,  peace,  and  jus- 
tice, be  reformed  through  the  whofe  Roman  province.  We 
no  less  command  and  order,  by  the  tenor  of  these  presents 
under  your  faith,  loyalty,  and  for  fear  of  such  penalties  as 
may  seem  fitting,  that  you  send  two  proper  Sindics  and  Am- 
bassadors of  your  district  to  our  council  and  parliament,  which 
we  mean  to  hold  in  these  days,  for  the  welfare  of  the  Romans, 
and  the  safety  and  tranquillity  of  our  whole  province  :  and  we 
will,  and  by  these  presents  do  require,  as  a  token  of  our  af- 
fection and  love,  that  you  specifically  appoint  for  us  at  least 
one  wise  man  learned  in  the  law,  whom  you  shall  deem 
eligible,  and  whom  we,  from  this  date,  depute  among  the 
number  of  judges  of  our  constitution,  with  the  salaries, 
profits,  and  emoluments  appertaining. 

Given    in  the   Capitol,  the  24th  day  of  May,   1 5th   indie, 
tion. 


344 

Hesponsio  Domini  Tribuni  transmissa  amico  sito  in  Romana 
Curia  commoranti,  eo  quod  primo  sibi  scripserat,  quod  dice- 
batur  per  Curiam  quod  terrore  preteriti  volebat  dimittere 
officium  Trtbunatus. 

Amice  Karissime.  Inter  causas  alias,  quibus  multiplicitur 
vobis  afficimur,  continue  obligamur,  et  tenemur  vobis  de  fre- 
quentia  literarum,  quas  nobis  ita  sollicite  direxistis,  et  si  ad 
m  non  hucusque  rescripsimus,  non  processit  ex  alia  quam  ex 
diversitate  ardua,  et  arduitate  diversa  negociorum,  quibus 
persona  nostra  continue  occupatur.  Scire  tamen  vos  cupi- 
mus,  et  tenere  certissimum,  quod  urbs  sic  reducta  est  ad  sta- 
tum,  Spiritu  Sancto  faciente,  pacificum,  liberum,  et  felicem, 
quod  non  videntibus  impossibile  foret  credi :  nemo  enim  credere 
posset  Romanum  populum  plenum  dissidiis,  hactenus  sordidum 
omni  genere  viciorum,  reductum  ad  tante  unitatis  effectum,ad 
tantumque  araorem  justicie,  et  honeste  virtutis,  etpacis  in  tanta 
temporis  brevitate  *  *  *  *  domitis  cessantibus  odiis,  percus- 
sionibus,  homicidiis,  et  rapinis.  Nee  est  in  urbe  qui  ludo  uti 
audeat  taxillari ;  qui  Deum,  vel  sanctos  audeat  lacessire  blas- 
phemia^  nee  laicus  quispiam,  qui  teneat  concubinam,  inimi- 
cantes  omnes  gaudent ;  etiam  leta  pace  uxores,  diucius  a 
viris  abjecte,  ad  viros  reducte  sunt.  Magnates,  quibus  inequa 
rerum  communitas  causam  dissensionis  prestabat,  ad  divisio- 
nem,  et  porcionem  equalem ;  nee  non  et  discordes  omnes  ad 
concordiam  tempore  isto  nostri  regiminis  per  Dei  gratiam 
mirabiliter  sunt  reducti ;  et  totus  Romanus  populus  ad  devo- 
cionem  accensi  plusquam  nunquam  fuerunt  a  nativitate  Do- 
mini nostri  Jesu  Christi  gloriosissimi.  Quilibet  suo  gaudet, 
quilibet  de  suo  vivere  est  contentus.  Securi  ad  urbem  ve- 
niunt  qui  solebant  in  urbis  januis  spoliari  peregrini  cujuslibet 
nationis.  fax  viget,  et  floret  securitas.  Non  sunt  modo 
Castra  Potentum,  ut  hactenus,  spelunce  latronum ;  nee  reti- 
nent  eos  silve.  Et  novit  Deus,  cui  omnia  patent,  quod  non 
ambicio  dignitatis,  officii,  fame,  honoris,  vel  aure  mundialis, 
quam  semper  abhorrui,  sicut,  cenum,  sed  desiderium  com- 
munis boni  tocius  reipublice  hujusque  sanctissimi  status  in- 
duxit  nos  colla  submittere  jugo  adeo  ponderoso  *  *  *  *  nos- 
tris  humeris  non  ab  homine,  sed  a  Deo,  qui  novit  si  ojfficium 


345 

Reply  of  the  Lord  Tribune  sent  to  his  friend  in  the  Roman 
court*  to  that  which  he  had  written,  mentioning  the  report 
that  prevailed  in  the  court  that,  alarmed  at  what  had  happen- 
ed, he  was  desirous  of  resigning  the  Tribuneship. 

Dearest  Friend, 

Amongst  the  other  causes  on  account  of  which  we  are 
in  innumerable  ways  affected  towards  you,  we  are  continually 
obliged  and  beholden  to  you  for  the  frequency  of  the  letters 
which  you  have  written  to  us;  and  if  we  have  not  hitherto 
replied  to  them,  it  has  only  proceeded  from  the  difficult  va- 
riety and  various  difficulty  of  the  concerns  with  which  our 
person  is  continually  occupied. 

We  are  desirous,  however,  that  you  should  know  and  be 
assured  that,  by  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  city  has 
been  brought  back  to  a  state  so  tranquil,  free,  and  happy,  as 
to  be  incredible  to  those  who  do  not  witness  it ;  for  it  is  not 
to  be  believed  that  the  Roman  people,  till  now  full  of  dissen- 
tion,£ind  corrupted  by  every  description  of  vice,  should  be  so 
soon  reduced  to  a  state  of  such  unanimity,  and  to  so  great  a  love 
of  justice,  honourable  virtue,  and  peace,  and  that  hatred, 
assaults,  murder,  and  rapine  should  be  subdued  and  put  an 
end  to.  Nor  is  there  any  person  in  the  city  who  dares  to 
play  at  forbidden  games,  nor  to  provoke  God  or  his  saints  with 
blasphemy ;  there  is  no  layman  who  keeps  his  concubine ; 
all  enemies  are  reconciled ;  and  even  wives,  who  had  been 
long  cast  off,  return  to  their  husbands.  The  nobles,  who 
had  grounds  of  dissention  in  the  unjust  community  of  pro- 
perty, have  consented  to  an  equal  division  and  proportion  \ 
all  the  discontented,  through  the  grace  of  God,  are  wonder- 
fully brought  to  contentment  in  this  period  of  our  government, 
and  the  whole  Roman  people  has  been  animated  to  a  devo- 
tion, such  as  has  never  been  witnessed  since  the  nativity  of  our 
most  glorious  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Every  man  enjoys  his 
own :  every  man  is  content  to  live  on  his  own.  Pilgrims  of 
every  nation,  who  used  to  be  plundered  at  the  gates  of  the 
city,  now  come  to  us  in  safety.  Peace  blossoms  forth,  and  se- 
curity flourishes.     The  castles  of  the  nobles  are  not  as  hither- 

■=*  At  Avijfnon. 


346 

istud  fuit  per  nos  precibus  procuratum ;  si  officia,  beneficia., 
et  honores  consanguineis  nostris  contulimus ;  si  nobis  pecu- 
niam  cumulamus  ;  si  a  veritate  recedimus  ;  si  homines  tene- 
mus  in  verbis,  si  nobis,  vel  heredibus  nostris  facimus  compo- 
siciones  ;  si  in  ciborum  dulcedine,  aut  voluptate  aliqua  delec- 
tamur ;  et  si  quidquam  gerimus  simulatum.  Testis  est  nobis 
Deus  de  iis,  que  fecimus  et  facimus  pauperibus,  viduis,  orpha- 
nis  et  pupillis.  Multo  vivebat  quietius  Cola  Laurentius 
quam  Tribunus.  Sed  pro  huius  loci  beatus  amore  labores 
reputamus  nobis  singulos  ad  quietem,  immo  in  testimonio 
Spiritus  Sancti,  et  Beatorum  Apostolorum  Petri  et  Pauli,  quo- 
rum causam  prosequimur,  et  tuemur.  Hora  diei  quietem 
sumere  possumus;  sed  noctem  addiraus  operi,  et  labori. 


347 

to  dens  of  thieves  ;  nor  do  our  woods  abound  with  robbers. 
And  God,  by  whom  all  things  are  seen,  knows  that  no  ambi- 
tion for  dignity,  office,  fame,  honour,  or  worldly  favour,  which 
I  have  always  abhorred  like  dirt,  but  anxiety  for  the  general 
good  of  the  Republic,  and  of  this  holy  state,  induced  us  to 
submit  our  neck  to  so  ponderous  a  yoke,  placed  upon  our 
shoulders  not  by  man  but  by  God,  who  can  testify  whether 
this  office  was  put  upon  us  at  our  own  entreaties ;  whether 
we  have  conferred  places,  benefits,  or  honours  upon  our  rela- 
tions ;  whether  we  have  heaped  up  money  for  ourselves ; 
whether  departed  from  truth ;  whether  we  have  held  men 
together  by  words  only ;  whether  we  compound  for  ourselves 
or  our  heirs ;  whether  we  are  fond  of  luxury  in  our  food,  or 
of  any  voluptuousness  ;  and  whether  we  have  done  any  thing 
with  hypocrisy.  God  is  our  witness  of  what  we  have  done, 
and  are  doing,  for  the  poor — for  the  widows,  and  for  the 
orphans,  and  all  the  young.  Cola  the  son  of  Laurence  lived 
much  more  tranquilly  than  Cola  the  Tribune  :  but  for  the  love 
which  we  bear  to  this  place,  we  consider  all  our  labours  are 
for  its  tranquillity,  and  for  this  we  appeal  to  the  witness  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  blessed  apostles  Peter  and  Paul, 
whose  cause  we  follow  and  defend.  At  the  hour  of  day  we  can 
take  rest,  but  the  night  we  give  to  labour  and  study. 


44 


348 


Primum  Memhrum  presentis  Liteve. 

Ad  id  autem,  quod  scribitis  audivisse,  quod  inceptum  jam 
terreri,  scire  vos  facimus,  quod  sic  Spiritus  Sanctus,  per  quem 
dirigimur,  et  movemur,  facit  animum  nostrum  fortem,  quod 
ulla  discrimina  non  timemus  ;  immo  si  totus  mundus,  et  ho- 
mines sancte  fidei  christiane,  et  perfidiarum  hebraice,  et  pa- 
gane  contrariarentur  nobis,  non  propterea  terremur.  Nobis 
enim  propositum  est  cum  reverencia  Dei,  et  Sancte  Matris 
Ecclesie,  et  pro  amore,  et  cultu  justi(iie  velle  mori.  Talig 
autem  timoris  opinio,  qui  nunquam  cecidit  nee  cadere  potent 
in  cor  nostrum,  potuit  fortasse  procedere  ex  eo,  quod,  dum 
pridem,  in  concilio  peterimus,  quod  istud  officium  in  diversas 
personas  singulis  tribus  mensibus'  mutaretur,  illi,  qui  in  con- 
cilio erant  laceratis  pre  tristitia  vestibus,  omnes  conclamantes 
lacrimabiliter  responderunt,  dicentes  aut  quod  iste  status 
sanctissimus  decidat,  et  regimen  istud  ad  aliud  deveniret,  sin- 
guli  moriamur,  ita  quod  illud,  quod  faciebamus  causa  virtu- 
tis,  adscripsit  nobis  aliena  ignorancia  ad  timorem.  Nee  id 
ob  aliud  petebamus,  nisi  ne  causa  nostri  ad  perpetuitatem  officii 
aspirare  aliquatenus  crederemur. 


349 


First  Part  of  this  Letter. 

With  regard  to  what  jou  mention  as  having  heard,  that  we 
had  begun  to  be  frightened,  we  give  you  to  know  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  which  governs  and  cherishes  us,  so  fortifies  our 
mind  that  we  fear  no  perils ;  nay,  if  the  whole  world,  both 
people  of  the  holy  Christian  faith,  and  perfidious  Jews  and 
Pagans  should  oppose,  we  would  not  therefore  be  dismayed ; 
for  it  is  our  intention  and  desire  with  all  due  reverence  to 
God,  and  our  Holy  Mother  Church,  to  die  for  the  love  and 
maintenance  of  justice. 

But  it  is  probable  that  such  mention  of  terror,  which  never 
did,  and  never  can,  reach  our  heart,  arose  from  this  circum- 
stance, that  when  we  proposed  in  council  that  this  office 
should  be  changed  and  given  to  different  persons  every  three 
months,  those  who  were  present,  tearing  their  garments  in 
sadness,  and  weeping,  began  to  exclaim,  that  "  the  Good 
Estate  itself  would  perish,  that  the  government  would  un- 
dergo a  change,  and  all  would  be  slain" — so  that  what  we 
did  out  of  our  love  of  virtue,  the  ignorance  of  others  hath 
ascribed  to  fear.  And  we  only  desired  this  measure,  that  we 
might  not  be  thought  in  any  way,  on  our  own  account,  to  as- 
pire to  hold  this  office  in  perpetuity. 


350 


Secundum  Memhrum. 

Vos  etiam  cupimus  non  latere,  quod  Joannes  de  Vico,  olim 
prefectus/rtdt^a  {fatricida)  et  proditor  vocatus,  et  expectatus 
diutius,  venire  noluit  ad  mandata ;  propter  quod  contra  eum 
direximus  nostrum  victoriosum  cxercitum,  qui  jam  occupavit 
Vetrallam,  et  Viterbium  tenet  obsessum,  quod  continue  de- 
vastatur.  Omnes  quoque  Tuscie  Civitates  miseruntjam  in 
servitio  nostro,  et  Romani  Populi  in  dictum  nostrum  exerci- 
tum  auxilia  gentis  sue.  Omnes  hoc  statu  letantur,  omnes 
Romano  populo  favent  contra  proditorem  prefatum.  Soli 
rectores  Patrimonii,  et  Campauie  assistunt,  et  subfavent  pro- 
ditori  qui  aliter  fuerant  sui  hostes ;  de  quo  etsi  dolemus, 
sine  causa  nos  tractari  indebitc  ab  eisdem,  altiori  tamen  iu 
mente  peragimus,  quod  proinde  turbabuntur  omnia  corda 
Romanorum.  Videtur  enim  eis  in  culpas  ipsorum  Rectorum 
non  solum  ab  eis,  sed  a  Domino  nostro  Summo  Pontifice  reci- 
pere  lesionem  •,  dicunt  quidam  :  nos  Domini  nostri  summi 
Pontificis  in  auxiliis  sperabamus,  et  officiales  suos  ita  nobis 
contrarios  experimur,  quod  non  sit  sine  aliquali  infamia  Domi- 
ni prelibati ;  fratisque  germani  dicti  Comitis  Campanie  cum 
quatuor  banneriis  equitum,  et  cum  gente  Regis  Ungarieinva- 
dentis  Regnum  Sicilie  in  Aquila  contra  Reginam  Joannam,  et 
Dominum  nostrum  summum  Pontificem  ;  Nee  obmittemus, 
quod  tanta  est  circa  hunc  statum  vicinarum  bona  dispositio 
civitatum,  quod  viginti  sex  denarios  antique  parve  monete, 
valentes  nunc  Carlenum  unum,  et  denarios  quatuor  parvos, 
petitos  ab  eis  pro  quolibet  focolari,  libenter  exsolvunt,  vi- 
dentes  nos  ipsam  pecuniam,  et  aliam  pro  defensione  persona- 
rum,  et  rerum  suarum  in  stipendia  militie  convertisse,  quam- 
vis  Rectores  ipsi  hoc  visi  fuerint  impedire ;  et  illi,  a  quibus 
pecuniam  ipsam  non  petimus,  dolent  quodammodo,  et  spon- 
tanee  solvunt  illam,  ne  a  defensione  nostra  videantur  exclu- 
si.  Igitur  nulla  nos  cura  sollicitat,  si,  Deo  exeunte  nobis^ 
cum,  nobis  homines  adversari  contingat ;  et  spem  nostram  in 
Deo  posuimus  ;  de  auxiliis  hominum  non  curamus.  Legisae 
namque  recolimus,  et  vidisse  virum  in  sua,  et  hominis  poten- 


351 


Second  Member, 

We  are  also  desirous,  that  it  should  not  be  concealed  from 
you,  that  John  dc  Vico  (formerly  prefect)  fratracide,  and  trai- 
tor, thou2;h  called  and  expected  a  long  time,  would  not  come 
to  our  summons :  we  have,  therefore,   sent  against  him  our 
victorious  army,  which  hath  occupied  Vetralla,  and  keeps  Vi- 
terbo,  which  is  incessantly  laid  waste,  in  siege.     All  the  Tus- 
can states  also  in  our  service,  and  the  Roman  people,  have 
sent  auxiliaries  from  their  own  people  to  our  said  army.     All 
rejoice  in  this  proceeding,  all  assist  the  Roman  people  against 
Ihe  aforesaid  traitor.     But  the  governors  of  the  patrimony* 
and  of  Campania,  who  were  formerly  his  enemies,  connive 
with  the  traitor,  which,  although  it  sorely  grieves  us  that  we 
should  be  treated  so  unworthily,  yet  are  we  more  deeply  af- 
fected, because  the  hearts  of  all  our  Romans  will  be  troubled 
thereat :    for  it  is  their  belief,   that  owing  to  the  offence  of 
these  governors,  they  are  not  only  injured  by  those  lords 
themselves,  but  also  by  their  lord  the  Pope  himself;  for,  say 
they,  we  trusted  in  the  assistance  of  our  lord  the  Pope,  and 
now  we  see  his  officers  are  against  us,  and  against  us  to  the 
discredit,  in  some  degree,  of  the  same  lord  the  Pope,  and  of 
the  brother  of  the  Count  of  Campania,  invading  with  four 
banners  of  horse,  and  with  the  people  of  the  king  of  Hunga- 
ry, the  kingdom  of  Sicily,  m  Aquila,  in  prejudice  of  Queen 
Joanna  and  of  our  sovereign  lord  the  Pope.     Nor  will  we 
omit,  that  such  is  the  good  disposition  of  the  cities  near  this 
state,  that  they  willingly  pay  twenty-six  pence  of  the  ancient 
small  money,  (now  worth  a  carline)    and  four  small  pence 
which  are  demanded  of  them  for  each  hearth  :    for  they  see 
that  we  convert  this  and  other  money  into  stipends  for  sol- 
diers for  the  defence  of  their  persons  and  property,  and  not- 
withstanding the  governors  themselves  would  hinder  this  tri- 
bute, those  from  whom  we  have  not  demanded  contribution, 

*  A  part  of  the  Roman  states  calWd  the  Patrimony  of  St.  Peter, 


352 

tia  confidentum  sucumbere,  et  quod  humana  auxilia  in  ejus, 
ad  cujus  sunt  parata  favorem,  sepe  in  confusionem  sint  solita 
torqueri.  Quidquid  igitur  nobis  objicitur,  quasi  mane  *  *  *  * 
reputamus,  existentes  certi,  quod  quanto  plus  hie  status  sanc- 
tissimus  impugnatur  in  terns  ab  homine,  in  celis  roboratur 
plus  a  Deo,  qui  quod  ipse  dignatus  est  misericorditer  stabi- 
lire,  non  patitur  per  homines  infirmari. 


353 

are  in  some  measure  disappointed,  and  offer  it  of  their  own  ac- 
cord, that  they  may  not  appear  excluded  from  our  protection. 

We  are  therefore  under  no  apprehensions,  if  men  should 
become  our  adversaries,  whilst  God  goes  out  with  us  :  and  we 
have  placed  our  reliance  on  God,  nor  caring  for  the  help  of 
man.  For  we  recollect  to  have  read  of,  and  have  seen  such 
as  trusted  to  human  powers,  succumb,  and  human  aid  is  wont 
to  be  turned  to  the  confusion  of  him  for  whose  help  it  was 
prepared. 

Let  us  therefore  consider  what  is  objected  to  us  as  *  *  *  *  * 
being  certain  that  the  more  this  Holy  State  is  assailed  on 
earth  by  men,  the  more  it  is  fortified  in  heaven  by  God,  who 
does  not  permit  that  what  he  has  pitifully  vouchsafed  to  estab- 
lish should  be  loosened  by  the  hand  of  man. 


:454 


Tercium  Membrmn. 

Ad  disconsolacionem  nostram  illud  novum  accidit,  quod, 
tenentibus  nobis  in  carcere  singulos  potents  de  hujus  status 
impedicione  suspectos,  et  cum  eis  nuperrime  Lucam  de  Sa- 
bello,  Vicarius  Domini  nostri  Pape,  aut  timore  ipsius  Luce 
perterritus,  vel  aliis  tirampnidum  dolis  flexus,  credentium 
ad  turbacionem  hujus  santi  status  preler  istas  non  posse 
unam  aliam  invenire  causam,  querit  de  capitolio  receden- 
di :  nee  unquam  in  aliquo  volumus,  ob  Domini  nostri 
summi  Pontificis  reverenciam,  ejus  honoribus,  et  beneplacitis 
deviare  ;  de  quo  etiam  Romanus  Populus  est  admiracione,  et 
dolore  commotus,  dum  singulos  officiales  Domini  nostri  sum- 
mi  Pontificis,  aliquos  malacia,  aliquem  negligenciaobviare  pro- 
spiciunt  huic  sancto  statui,  et  quieti.  Sed  frustra  tumescunt 
maria,  frustra  venti  furunt,  frustra  ignis  crepitat,  et  inanes 
resolvuntur  in  favillas  contra  hominem  in  Domine  confiden- 
tem,  qui,  sicut  Mons  Syon,  non  poterit  commoveri :  nee  ob- 
mittimus,  quod  Comes  Campanie  cum  aliquibus  tirampnis 
damnabilibus,  machinatus  procuravit  tres  Bannerias  equitum 
a  se  dolose  removere,  quasi  renunciasset  eisdem,  et  ipsi  ve- 
nientes  ad  nostra  stipendia,  debebant  nos  occidere,  prout 
inter  eos  fuerat  ordinatum.  Sed  Deus,  defensor  noster,  de 
eorum  manibus  nostram  innocentiam  liberavit.  Sciatis  eciam 
ad  despectum,  et  dedecus  Joannis  de  Vico,  nequissimi  prodi- 
toris,  recepimus  a  Romano  Populo  officium  Prefecture  urbis 
ad  gaudium,  subjungentes,  quod  in  Dei  nomine  in  Kalendis 
Augusti  proxime  futuro  die  Pontificali,  ac  Imperiali  intendi- 
mus  per  Romanum  Popuhim,  Spiritus  Sancti  gratia,  ad  mili- 
tiam  promoveri,  et  sic  existentes  Spiritus  Sancti  Miles,  in 
festo  gloriose  Virginis  Marie  ejusdem  mensis,  Tribunicia 
laurea,  quam  Tribuni  antiquitus  assumebant  disposuimus  co- 
ronari,  mores  eorum  imitari  eciam  non  verebamur,  qui  ah  ara- 
tris  ad  officia  promoti  videbantur. 

De  iis  omnibus  informatis  reverendum  Patrem  Dominum  F. 
de  filiis  Ursis  Domini  Papi  Notarii,  qui  nobis  quam  plurimum 
ascripsit,  nee  habuimus  adhuc  sibi  copiam  rescribendi.     Et 


355 


Third  Member. 

It  has  lately  happened  to  our  discomfort,  that,  whilst  we 
held  in  prison  certain  princes  suspected  of  opposition  to  this 
state,  and  amongst  them  very  recently  Luca  of  Sabello,  the 
Vicar  of  our  lord  the  Pope,  either  overcome  with  terror  of 
the  said  Luke,  or  influenced  by  the  treachery  of  usurpers 
(who  could  find  no  other  means  of  disturbing  this  holy  state) 
is  seeking  to  quit  the  Capitol :  nor  would  we  ever  do  any 
thing  contrary  to  his  dignity  and  wishes  out  of  the  reverence 
we  bear  our  lord  the  Pope,  towards  whom  also  the  Roman 
people  are  moved  with  wonder  and  grief  on  beholding  the 
officers  of  our  lord  the  supreme  Pontiff  endangering  the 
tranquillity  of  this  holy  state,  some  from  malice,  others  by 
negligence. 

But  the  billows  swell  in  vain — in  vain  the  winds  rage,  and 
in  vain  the  fires  crackle,  and  are  dissipated  into  empty  sparks 
against  the  man  who  puts  his  trust  in  God,  who  is  as  im- 
moveable as  Mount  Sion.  We  do  not  omit,  that  the  Count 
of  Campania  with  certain  damnable  tyrants  has  contrived  that 
three  banners  of  horse  should  leave  his  party  by  stealth  as  if 
he  had  renounced  them,  and  come  into  our  pay  for  the  pur- 
pose of  slaying  us,  as  had  been  determined  amongst  them. 
But  God,  our  defender,  has  saved  our  innocence  out  of  their 
hands. 

Know,  also,  in  addition  to  the  disgrace  and  dishonour  of 
John  de  Vico,  that  most  wicked  traitor,  that  we  have  received 
from  the  Roman  people  the  prefectureship  to  the  joy  of  the 
city,  and  that,  through  the  Roman  people  and  the  grace  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  we  in  the  name  of  God  on  the  pontifical  and 
imperial  day  of  the  approaching  kalends  of  August  do  intend 
to  be  promoted  to  the  knighthood ;  and  thus  having  become  a 
knight  of  the  Holy  Ghost  we  have  arranged  that  we  shall  be 
crowned  on  the  festival  of  the  glorious  Virgin  Mary  in  the 
same  month,  with  the  Tribunician  Laurel,  which  the  tribunes 
assumed  of  old,  not  fearing  to  imitate  their  customs,  who 
were  promoted  from  the  plough  to  high  duties. 

You  will  tell  all  these  things  to  the  reverend  lord  father 

4.5 


356 

excueatis  nos  ei,  quod  si  modo  iion  scribimus,  est  enim  propter 
festinanciam  hujus  occurrentis ;  vos  quoque  kalidissime  stu- 
deatis  et  vestrum  reditum  festinare,  quia  vobis  providimus  de 
officio  honorabili,  atque  bono  ;  scientes,  quod  non  de  facili, 
non  simonia,  non  precibus,  et  instancia  aliena  officiales  as- 
sumimus,  sed  opinione  virtutis  viros  probos  ad  officia  pro- 
movemus. 

Datum  in  Capitolio,  in  quo,  regnante  justicia,  recto  corde 
vigemus,  die  decimaquinta  Julii,  decimaquinta  indicione, 
liberate  rei  publice  anno  primo.* 


*  The  foregoing  letter  has  never  been  published  :  it  is  marked  fol.  175, 
176,  of  the  Turin  MSS. 


357 

Orsini,  the  notary  of  our  lord  the  Pope,  who  wrote  to  ui  as 
soon  as  possible,  and  we  have  not  yet  had  an  opportunity  of 
replying  to  him  ;  and  you  will  excuse  us  to  him  that  if  we  do 
not  now  write,  it  is  by  reason  of  these  events.  You  also  will 
eagerly  endeavour  to  hasten  your  return,  because  we  are 
looking  out  for  some  honourable  and  good  office  for  you, 
knowing  that  we  do  not  easily,  nor  by  simony,  appoint  our 
officers,  nor  at  the  entreaties  and  instance  of  other  persons, 
but  promote  honest  men  approved  for  their  virtuous  characters. 
Given  in  the  Capitol,  where  in  this  reign  of  justice  we 
flourish  in  upright  heart,  on  the  15th  day  of  July,  the  15th 
indiction,  and  1st  year  of  the  freedom  of  the  republic. 


35» 


Copia  litterarum  missarum  per  Tribunum  urbis  ad  Dominum 
Papam  excusando  se  ab  inimicis  occultis,  narrans  etiam  ali- 
qxm  contrp,  Comitem  Fondorum. 


Sanctissime  Pater,  et  clementissime  Domine,  ne  dolosarum 
linguarum  astucia,  a'quibus  *********  liberari,  vestra 
clemencia  quatenus  non  facilis,  imo  impossibilis,  sicut  reor, 
verbis  inclinari  fallacibus,  cum  sit  scrip^um  omni  sermoni  non 
esse  credendum,  suspectum  teneat  tamen  de  cognicione  mee 
puritatis  aiiditum,  presens  litera  sanctitati  vestre  transmittitur 
veri  nuncia,  mendacii  inimici  et  dolo  obvia  alicujus,  qui  ex 
acuta  lingua  ut  gladio  in  jaculatum  sagittarum  nititur  in  oc- 
culto,  cujus  innata  et  inveterata  nequicia  non  participio  status, 
et  honoris  ecclesie  ipsum  facit  immeritum,  verum  efficit  sus- 
ccpcione   aule  vestre    sanctitatis  indignum.     Noverit  igitur 
sanctitatis  vestre  benignitas,  me  humilem  servum  vestrum  in 
festo  beatissime  Marie  Virginis  de  presenti  mense  Augusti 
fuisse   per  manus    Preceptoris  Hospitalis   sancti  spiritus,  et 
Vicariorum   ecclesiarum  cathedralium  urbis  antiquitus  solita 
dari  tribunis  laurea  coronatum  :  videlicet  sex  coronis,  quarum 
quinque  fuerant  frondee,  secundum  Romanorum  antiquum 
institutum,  dari  augentibus  rem  publicam  consuete,  et  sexta 
fuit  argentea,  que  valorem  quinque  florenorum  auri  non  ex- 
cedit ;  et  post  ipsarum  susceptionem  sex  hujusmodi  coronarum 
pomum  recepi  per  manus    Syndici  Romani  Populi    malicie 
signatum,  que  devote  suscipiens  ad  memoriam  sex  donorum 
Spiritus  Sancti  ab  ejusdem  largitate  alui,  et  sub  sancte  Ro- 
mane  Ecclesie,  et  Sanctitatis  vestre  reverencia  recognovi,  in 
quibusque  suscipiendis  nulla  perpctuabitur  auctoritas  in  con- 
sensu, she  licentia  nulla  fuit  Pontijicalis  oportuna  potestas  curie, 
Non  in  pleno,  at  plenissimo  publico  parlamento,  de  assensu 
tocius  Romani  Populi,  et  aliorum  quamplurium  omnium  fere 
civitatum  Tuscie  Syndicorum  Ecclesie  Zelo  fratres,  omnes 


359 


Copy  of  the  Letters  sent  by  the  Tribune  of  the  City  to  the  Lord 
the  Pope,  defending  himself  from  his  secret  Enemies,  and 
mentioning  certain  things  against  the  Count  of  Fondi. 

Most  holy  Father,  and  most  merciful  Lord,  lest  through 
the  craftiness  of  deceitful  tongues,  from  which  even  *  *  *  * 
would  desire  to  be  delivered,  your  clemency,  hitherto  not 
easy,  nay,  as  I  suppose,  impossible  to  be  turned  from  me  by 
fallacious  words,  (for  it  is  written  we  are  not  to  credit  every 
thing  we  hear)  may  not  hold  me  suspected,  notwithstanding 
the  known  proofs  of  my  purity,  this  present  letter  is  sent  to 
your  Holiness  to  declare  the  truth,  to  oppose  falsehood,  and 
to  repel  the  craft  of  any  person  who  darts  arrows  from  his 
sharp  tongue,  like  a  secret  sword,  and  whose  innate  and  in- 
veterate vice  renders  him  unworthy  not  only  of  all  dignity 
and  honour  in  the  state,  but  even  of  being  received  into  the 
court  of  your  Holiness. 

Your  Holiness  will  have  known,  that  on  the  festival  of  the 
most  blessed  Virgin  Mary,  in  this  present  month  of  August, 
your  humble  servant  received  from  the  hands  of  the  preceptor 
of  the  Hospital  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  of  the  Vicars  of  the 
cathedral  churches  of  the  city,  the  Laurel  Crown  which  was 
wont  of  old  to  be  given  to  the  Tribunes,  consisting  of  six 
crowns,  five  of  which  were  of  natural  leaves,  given,  accord- 
ing to  an  old  Roman  custom,  to  persons  who  had  advanced 
the  commonwealth,  and  the  sixth  of  silver,  not  exceeding  the 
value  of  five  gold  florins  ;  and  that  after  taking  the  above  six 
crowns,  I  received  also  from  the  hand  of  the  Sindic  the  apple, 
the  ensign  of  the  army  of  the  Roman  people  ;  all  which 
devoutly  taking  in  memory  of  the  six  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
I  cherished  as  a  token  of  his  bounty,  and  in  acknowledgment 
of  my  reverence  for  the  most  holy  Roman  church,  and  of 
your  Holiness.  And  in  the  reception  of  these  there  will  be  no 
perpetual  assumption  of  authority  ;  or  was  there  any  infraction 
of  the  power  of  the  court  of  Rome*  In  the  full,  or  rather  in 
the  complete  public  parliament,  and  with  the  assent  of  the 

*  This  appears  untranslatable. 


360 

homines  civitatum,  in  quibus  etiam  cardinalium  tituli,  et  bona 
eorunn  ab  omni    vassalagio  liberavi,  cives  Romanos  efftci  et 
reduxi  ad  vestrum  dominium,  Dominorum  Cardinalium,  quo- 
rum in  eis  non  modicum  jurisdicio  lesa  erat,adversispotentibus 
vestre  urbis.     Iten)  quod  nullus  Imperator,  Rex,  Princeps, 
Marchio,  sive  quovis  alio  censitus  nomine  cum  gente  audeat 
in  Italiam  mittere  sine  vestre  Sanctitatis,  vel  Romani  Populi 
licencia  speciali  ;  ad  que  me  induxit  pura,  quam  habeo  ad 
Ecclesiam,  sancta  fides,  et  desiderium  pacis,  et  quietis  Italic, 
atque  Regni.     Item  quod  nemo  detestabilia  nomina  Guelfum, 
et  Guibellinum  tanti  jam  proh   dolor !  Christiani  sanguinis 
estuaria,  audeat  per  totam  Italiam  nominare,  sed,  omni  *  *  * 
*  *  deposita,  fidelem  sexorem  sancte  Ecclesie  in  unitate,  et 
pace,  *  *  *  asserat,  et  cognoscat.     In  quibus,  et  aliis  per  me 
gestis,  si  aliquid  potest  reputari  Ecclesie  sancte  contrarium, 
que  per  universum  pacem  decantant,  et  predicant,  relinquo 
vestre  judicio  sanctitatis,  cupiens  anxie,  et  non  ficte,  quod 
dignetur  vestra  sa)]ctitas  mittere  aliquem  virum  Dei,  ut  de 
singulis,  que  peregi,  voluntate  vestri  Romani  Populi  discuciat, 
et  inquirat ;  et  si  forte  mali  quo  me  inculpat  reperiat,  ante 
pedes  vestros    venturum   me    obligo,    pena  qualibet,    juxta 
sanctitatis  vestre  justiciam  sine  misericordia  puniendus.     Nee 
vestram   clemenciam  lateat,  quod    contra  hostem   Ecclesie, 
atque  vestrum  Nicolaum  Gartanum,  olim  Fondorum  comitem, 
per  exercitum  victoriosum  procedo  viriliter,  paratis  oppor- 
tunis,  et  jam  misi  Cancellarium,  urbis  Angelum  Malabreme 
in    ostensionem   terrarum    Comitis   prelibati    cum   equitibus 
quadringentis  positls  in  campo  feliciter,  cum  Spiritus  Sancti 
gratia,  et  favore,  ultra  duodecim  centenaria  equitum  stre- 
nuorum  cum  balistariis,  et  hominibus  aliis  infinitis,  et  quod 
ipsum  spero  faciliter  conculcare,  quod  nunquam  *****  ut 
resurgat.     Cujus  exercitus  Joannem  natum  Stephani  de  Co- 
lumpna,  Principem  malicie  ordinavi.     Et  quod  in  iis  partibus 
cepit  indere  aliqua,  licet   modica  carestia,  cui    adhibui,  et 
adhibeo   proposse    remedia,   procurans    de    Sicilie   partibus 
granum  deflferri  facere,  ac  eciam  aliunde,  et  terras  Romani 
districtus,  quarum  diu   inculta   pars   maxima  jacuit,  reduci 
faciens  ad  culturam  ;  et  per  concessionem  Jubilei  nisi  provi- 


361 

whole  Roman  people,  very  many  of  the  Sindics,  of  all  the 
cities  of  Tuscany,  brothers  in  Christian  zeal,  and  ail  those  of 
the  cities  which  give  titles  to  cardinals,  were  not  only  freed 
from  all  vassalage  as  to  their  property,  but  were  declared  by 
me  Roman  citizens,  and  were  brought  back  to  your  authority, 
and  to  that  of  my  lords  the  cardinals,  whose  rights  had  re- 
ceived manifest  injury,  in  consequence  of  the  inimical  nobles 
of  this  your  city.  Also,  that  no  Emperor,  or  King,  or  Prince, 
or  Marquis,  or  any  other  under  whatever  title,  may  dare  to 
put  foot  in  Italy,  without  the  special  license  of  your  Holiness, 
or  of  the  Roman  people  ;  to  which  I  was  induced  by  that  pure 
and  holy  faith  which  I  bear  to  the  church,  and  by  the  desire  of 
peace  and  of  the  quiet  of  Italy,  and  of  the  kingdom  at  large. 

Also,  that  no  one  may  for  the  future  dare  to  mention  the 
detested  names  of  Guelf  and  Ghibeline ;  but  laying  aside  all 
party  distinctions,  assert  and  acknowledge  the  power  of  the 
*****  of  the  Holy  Church,  in  unity  and  peace. 

In  all  which,  and  other  things  by  me  done,  if  there  be  any 
thing  that  can  be  esteemed  contrary  to  Holy  Church,  seeing 
that  they  proclaim  and  preach  universal  peace,  I  leave  to  the 
judgment  of  your  Holiness ;  desiring  anxiously  and  unfeign- 
edly  that  your  Holiness  would  deign  to  send  hither  some  man 
of  God,  to  discuss  and  inquire  into  all  those  things  which  I 
have  dbne  by  the  will  of  your  Roman  people  ;  and  if  the 
said  shall  find  any  of  that  evil  in  me  with  which  I  am  charged, 
I  do  obhge  myself,  under  any  penalty,  to  be  punished  without 
mercy  according  to  the  justice  of  your  Holiness.  Nor  let  it 
be  unknown  to  your  clemency,  that  against  the  enemy  of  the 
church,  and  of  yourself,  Nicholas  Gartanus,  formerly  Count 
of  Fondi,  I  am  now  proceeding  manfully  with  a  victoriouis 
army,  and  have  already  sent  before  me  Angelo  Malabreme, 
the  chancellor  of  the  city,  to  make  an  incursion  into  the  lands 
of  the  said  Count,  with  four  hundred  knights  well  arrayed  for 
battle,  with  the  grace  and  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  besides 
twelve  hundred  other  horsemen  with  slingers,  and  an  infinite 
number  of  other  soldiers  ;  who,  as  I  hope,  will  easily  tread 
him  under  foot,  so  that  he  shall  never  again  rise.  Of  which^ 
army  I  have  appointed  John  the  son  of  Stephen  Colonna, 
prince  of  the  soldiery  ;  and  beranse  there  is  in  those  parts  a 


362 

deatur,  aliter  posset  excrescere,  dum  multi  de  diversis  mundi 
partibus  Romam  perperam  confluent,  multique  granum  pro- 
curabant  abscondere.* 

Cetera  desiderantur. 


*  This  letter  is  not  in  Hocsemius;  it  is  marked  fol.  167  of  the  Turin 

MSS. 


3^3 

commencing  scarcity,  although  to  great  extremity,  1  hay* 
resorted,  and  as  far  as  I  am  ahle  do  now  resort,  to  certain 
remedies ;  enacting  that  grain  shall  be  imported  from  Sicily 
and  from  other  countries,  and  ordaining  that  many  lands  of 
our  Rom&a  district,  the  greater  part  of  which  have  long  lain 
uncultivated,  shall  now  be  again  sown  :  for  I  am  aware  that 
otherwise  this  scarcity  may  increase  owing  to  the  granting  of 
the  Jubilee,  which  will  bring  such  fl^tiltitudes  from  all  quar- 
ters to  Rome,  and  because  many  have  found  means  to  amass 
and  conceal  the  grain. 
The  ri'st  is  wemting. 


364 


Modus,  tt  forma  coronacionis  Tribuni  sic  fait. 

Prima  corona  quercus  presentetur  per  Priorem  Ecclesie 
Lateranensis,  dicentem  sic  :  Suscipe  quercum,  qua  cives  a 
morte  servasti. 

Secunda  corona  de  edera,  dicentem  :  Suscipe  ederam,  qua 
religionem  amasti ;  et  fuit  presentata  per  Priorem  Sancti 
Petri. 

Tertia  corona  de  mirto  fuit  presentata  per  Decanum  Sancti 
Pauli  dicentem  :  Suscipe  mirtum,  quoniam  ofticia,  et  Scien- 
tiam  observasti,  et  avariciam  odisti. 

Quarta  corona  fuit  de  lauro,  presentata  per  abbatem  Sancti 
Laurencii  extra  muros  Urbis,  dicentem :  Suscipe  laurum, 
quoniam  officia,  et  Scientiam  observasti,  et  avaritiam  odisti. 
Quinta  corona  fuit  de  oliva,  presentata  per  Priorem  Sancte 
Marie  Majoris,  dicentem  :  Vir  humilis,  Suscipe  olivam,  quo- 
niam cum  humilitate  superbiam  superasti. 

Sexta  corona  fuit  argentea,  et  sceptrum ;  fuit  presentata 
per  Priorem  Sancti  Spiritus  in  Saxia,  dicentem :  Tribune 
Auguste  ;  Suscipe,  dona  Spiritus  Sancti,  cum  corona,  et  Scep- 
tro,  et  Spiritualem  coronam. 

Pomum  autem  detur  per  Dominum  Gotfridum  sic  dicentem: 
Tribune  Auguste,  suscipe,  et  cole  justiciam,  da  iibertatem, 
et  pacem ;  et  osculetur  eum.  Vicarius  Domini  Ostiensis 
dirigat  coronas. 

Dominus  archiepiscopus  Neapolitanus  non  permittat  auferri 
argenteam  coronam. 

Et  dum  predictus  Tribunus  coronabatur,  secum  quemdam 
pauperem  habebat  vilissime  indutum  in  signum  humilitatis  ; 
asserens  predictus  Tribunus,  quod  antiquus  mos  erat,  quo  Im- 
peratores  Romani  cum  triumphabant,  tollerabant,  et  sustine- 
bant  omnia  verba  injuriosa  per  quoscumque  eis  dicentes  illo 
die. 

Dicto  die  dictus  dominus  Tribunus  in  consilio  primus  sur- 
rexit,  collaudendo  ambaxiatores,  et  civitates,  que  advenerant 
in  subsidium  Romani  populi,  ofterendo  se,  et  Romanum  popu- 
lum  supradictis  ambaxiatoribus,  et  civitatibus  ad  omnia,  que 


365 


The  manner  and  form  of  the  Coronation  of  the   Tribune  rcax 

thus : 

The  first  crown  of  oak  shall  be  presented  by  the  Prior  ol 
the  Lateran  Church,  saying  :  Receive  the  oak,  with  which 
thou  hast  preserved  the  citizens  from  death. 

The  second  crown  of  ivy  was  presented  by  the  Prior  of 
St.  Peter's,  saying  :  Receive  the  ivy,  with  which  thou  hast 
cherished  religion. 

The  third  crown  of  myrtle  was  presented  by  the  Dean  of 
St.  Paul's,  saying :  Receive  the  myrtle,  since  thou  hast  ob- 
served thy  duties  and  thy  science,  and  hast  abhorred  avarice. 

The  fourth  crown  of  laurel  was  presented  by  the  Abbe 
of  St.  Laurence,  without  the  walls  of  the  city,  saying  :  Re- 
ceive the  laurel,  for  thou  hast  observed  thy  duties  and  thy 
science,  and  hast  abhorred  avarice. 

The  fifth  crown  of  olive  was  presented  by  the  Prior  of 
Santa  Maria  Maggiore,  saying :  Humble  man,  receive  the 
ohve,  for  thou  hast  overcome  pride  with  humility. 

The  sixth  crown  was  of  silver,  as  was  the  sceptre,  and  was 
presented  by  the  Prior  of  Santo  Spirito  in  Saxia,  saying  : 
Tribune  August,  receive  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  with  a 
crown  and  sceptre,  and  a  spiritual  crown. 

But  the  apple  was  to  be  given  by  the  Lord  Gotfridus,  say- 
ing. Tribune  August,  receive — and  reverence  justice,  grant 
liberty  and  peace — and  he  kisses  him. 

The  Vicar  of  the  Lord  of  Ostia  was  director  of  the  crowns. 

The  Lord  Archbishop  of  Naples  must  not  allow  the  silver 
crown  to  be  removed. 

And  whilst  the  aforesaid  tribune  was  being  crowned,  he 
had  with  him  a  certain  poor  person  most  meanly  clad,  as  an 
example  of  humility ;  the  said  tribune  declaring  that  there 
existed  an  ancient  custom,  that  the  Roman  Emperors,  when 
they  triumphed,  tolerated,  and  bore  all  injurious  words  by 
whomsoever  spoken  on  that  day. 

On  the  said  day,  the  said  Lord  Tribune  rose  first  in  coun- 
cil, applauding  the  ambassadors  and  states  which  had  come 


36# 

fucrint  eis  necessaria,  et  oportuna.  Item  sciatis,  quod  Jo- 
annes de  Columpna  signatus,  electus,  et  factus  est  capitaneus 
contra  Comitem  Fundorum  non  removendo  propterea  Capi- 
taneum  in  partibus  Tuscie,  immo  pocius  confirmando.* 


*  This  is  in  Hocsemius,  and  appears  a  note  of  how  the  ceremony  was 
to  be  arranged,  and  how  it  was  conducted.  If  these  specimens  of  Rien- 
zi's  writing  should  be  thought  interesting,  his  letter  to  the  Pope,  which  is 
given  in  Hocsemius,  will  be,  on  another  opportunity,  published  from  the 
Turin  MSS.  Those  better  acquainted  with  the  Latin  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  may  be  able  to  correct  the  text  and  the  translation- 


367 

to  the  assistance  of  the  Roman  people,  offering  himself  and 
the  Roman  people  to  execute  every  thing  which  was  expe- 
dient and  seasonable  for  them. 

You  are  to  know  also  that  John  Colonna  is  marked,  elect- 
ed and  made  general  against  the  Count  of  Fondi,  not  to  the 
prejudice  of  the  general  in  Tuscany,  who  is  rather  confirmed. 


Fac  simile  of  Tasso's  hand-writing. 

Qi  0<mfyML  aSrixxk  mica  yi^c/nAy 


369 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  FUNERAL  VASES. 


Plate  I. 

1.  Section  of  a  Vase,  containing  the  ashes  of  a  funeral  pile,  the 

urns,  and  the  utensils,  above  three  palms  in  height. 

2.  Sepulchral  Urn,  about  one  palm  three  inches  high  ;  containing 

the  ashes  and  bones,  the  little  balsamic  vase  called  "  Lecy- 
tus,"  an  unknown  utensil  of  clay,  divided  into  two  branches 
towards  the  extremities,  a  small  metallic  wheel,  and  broach 
noticed  in  No.  5. 

3.  Vessels  called  Animatoria,  with  funnels  for  the  exhalation  of  the 

perfumed  smoke,  according  to  Vitruvius. 

4.  Vase  called   Calefactorium,   having  at  the   lower   extremity  a 

small  furnace  for  smoke,  whence  the  perfume,  proceeding 
from  the  fluid  contained  in  the  upper  part,  was  extracted. 

5.  A  metallic  Buckle,  used  to  fasten  the  cloth  which  enclosed  the 

ashes.  The  vase  in  the  centre  containing  the  lustral  water  : 
the  four  Vases  about  it,  for  wine,  oil,  milk,  &c.  The  Vase 
with  a  spout,  called  Guttas.  The  three  Dishes,  and  the 
Bowl  with  two  handles,  in  front  of  the  Urn.  The  Lamp, 
which  is  placed  on  the  left  of  the  Urn. 


Plate  II. 

1.  An  Urn  on  the  model  of  a  temple,  fastened  with  a  metallic 

pin. 

2.  Vases  called  Animatoria. 

3.  Ditto. 

4.  View  of  the  four  sides  of  the  Vases  called  Animatoria,  as  in 

No.  2. 


Plate  III. 

1.  Urn,  like  a  visor  fastened  with  a  metallic  pin. 

2.  A  Calefactorium. 


370 


3.  The  Osctlla,  or  little  clay  figure. 

4.  A  latfip. 


Plate  III.     Under  Part. 

1.  A  small  lance-head. 

2.  A  hook. 

3.  Do. 

4.  A  Avriting  stylus,  with  the  ohliterating  instrument  attached. 

It  has  not  been  thought  necessary  to  give  the  representation  of 
the  coverlid  of  the  vase  which  contains  the  marks,  of  which  a 
copy  has  been  inserted  in  page  341  :  but  whilst  we  are  on  the 
subject  of  the  same  character,  it  may  be  observed,  that  there  is  a 
curious  dissertation  upon  the  origin  of  the  Hindu  system  in  the 
Asiatic  Researches  (vol.  viii.  p.  77)  which  may  be  worth  tran- 
scribing. 

"  This  kam-ghata,  or  jar,  is  the  principal  object  in  the  cele- 
bration of  Hindu  worship.     The  Vaishnavas  use  the  sacred  jar, 


•'  which  they  mark  with  several  crosses  in  this  manner 


^ 


Sir  William  Jones,  with  his  usual  taste  and  research,  has  drawn 
a  parallel  between  the  deities  of  Meru  and  Olympus  :  and  au  en- 
thusiast might,  perhaps,  maintain,  that  the  vases  of  Alba  Longa 
were  a  relic  of  the  times,  when  one  religion  prevailed  in  Latium 
and  Hindustan.  It  is  more  singular,  that  the  Hindu  cross  is  pre- 
cisely the  hrtmmer  of  Th©r. 


371 

PLATE  I. 


47 


372 


PLATE  III. 


INDEX. 


A. 

Agrippina,  sarcophagus  of,  converted  into  a  corn-measure,  115. 
Inscription  to  her  memory,  ibid. 

Alban  Hill,  remarkable  tunnel  of,  207.  Account  of  very  ancient 
vases  there  discovered,  ibid. — 211.  Remarks  thereon,  ibid. 
—217. 

Alberic,  tyrant  of  Rome,  notice  of,   161. 

Alexander  FIL,  Pope,  notice  of  the  devastations  committed  by, 
on  ancient  Roman  edifices,  G3.  Commemorated  them  by  an 
inscription,  ibid.  note. 

Aljieri,  Count,  anecdotes  of,  29,  30.  Remarks  on  the  architec- 
ture of  his  tomb,  ibid.  Account  of  his  last  hours,  250. 
His  religious  opinions,  ibid.  Character  of  his  prose  writings, 
ibid. — Particularly  his  version  of  Sallust,  251 — of  Virgil,  ibid. 
— of  Terence,  252.  Character  of  his  posthumous  comedies, 
ibid. — and  translations  from  ancient  dramatic  writers,  253. 
Analysis  of  his  melo-tragedy,  the  Death  of  Abel,  ibid.  Cha- 
racter of  his  satires,  ibid.  254.  Of  his  lyrical  poems,  254,  255. 
Beautiful  sonnets  of  his  on  Petrarch's  house  at  Arqua,  and 
on  the  tomb  of  Dante,  255,  256.  Character  of  his  Misogallo, 
ibid.     Private  character  of  Altieri,  257,  258. 

Alfonso  d'Este,  Duke  of  Ferrara,  imprisons  Tasso,  14.  Causes 
assigned  for  this  conduct,  16 — 18.  The  real  cause,  19,  20,  21. 
His  ill-treatment  of  Tasso,  21.  Liberates  him,  ibid.  His  un- 
happy end,  26. 

Angela.     See  .S'^.  Angelo. 

Antiquities  of  Rome,  mistakes  in  the  earlier  notices  of,  consider- 
ed, 40 — 44.  Notice  of  disputes  concerning,  125.  List  of 
the  few  of  which  no  doubts  can  be  entertained,  126. 

Ariosto,  illiberal  treatment  of,  by  the  Cardinal  Hippolyto,  23. 
Notice  of  his  autograph  poems  preserved  at  Ferrara,  303,  304. 

Arnold  of  Brescia,  tyrant  of  Rome,  notice  of,   162. 

Augustus,  mausoleum  of.  converted  into  a  circus  for  bull-feasts, 
115. 


374 


B. 

Bandusian  Fountain,  site  of,  ascertained,  35. 

Barthelemy,  Abbe,  remarks  on   his  mistake  respecting  the  Coh- 

seum,  43,  174. 
Basville,  Hugh,  account  of,  427.     Analysis  of  Monti's  poem  on 

his  death,  268—271. 
Bembo,  Cardinal,  profane  latinity  of,  27,  note. 
Blondus,  Flavius,  a  Roman  antiquary,  character  of,  41. 
Braccio  di  Montone,  ravages  of,  at  Rome,  99,  note. 
Bull-feasts,  celebrated  in  the  mausoleum  of  Augustus,  115- 

C. 

Carnevale,  Signor,  remarkable  vases  discovered  by,  on  excavating 
the  vicinity  of  the  Alban  Hill,  ,208.  Account  of  them,  209 — 
211.     Remarks  thereon,  211 — 217. 

Canova,  Marquis,  preserved  the  remains  of  the  Servilian  sepul- 
chre, U6,  117. 

Capitol,  dilapidated  state  of,  in  the  fourth  century,  56.  Contra- 
dictory opinions  of  antiquaries  respecting  the  site  of  the  Capi- 
loline  temple,  145.  Literary  establishments  there,  ibid.  Suc- 
cessive spoliations  of  its  edifices,  146.  Revolutions  in  its  his- 
tory, 146 — 148.  Its  present  state,  ibid.  Church  of  Araceli 
and  Franciscan  Convent  erected  on  it,   149. 

Castle  of  St.  Angelo,  history  of,  196 — 199.     Its  present  state,  t'feirf. 

Cesarotti,  Melchior,  memoir  of,  225 — 229,  230.  Character  of  his 
version  of  Ossian,  225.  Of  his  translation  of  Homer,  226, 
227.  Of  his  treatise  on  the  Italian  language,  227.  Remarks 
on  his  prose  style,  228.  And  on  his  private  and  political  cha- 
racter, 228.     Opinion  of  the  Italians  concerning  him,  ibid. 

Cestius,  pyramid  of,   133. 

Charles  V.,  Emperor,  sack  of  Rome  by,  106. 

Cicero,  eulogium  on,  151. 

Circumference  of  Rome,  according  to  Gibbon,  117 — H9.  Ac- 
cording to  d'Anville,  1 19.  According  to  Poggio.  itic?.  Accord- 
ing to  the  measurement  of  two  Englishmen  in  1817,  ibid.  note. 
Differences  in  these  measurements  considered,  120 — 122. 

Circuses,  Roman,  destroyed,  58 — and  the  Circensian  games  dis- 
continued, 69. 

Civil  wars,  destructive  effects  of,  in  Rome,  65,  66,  88 — 91. 


375 

Clergy,  devastations  committed  by,  on  the  aacient  edifices'  of 
Rome,  53 — 63. 

Clitumnus,  River,  sources  of,  31.  Temple  of  the  Umbrian  Ju- 
piter, on  its  banks,  ibid.  Now  converted  into  a  church,  32. 
Its  dilapidated  state,  33,  34,  35. 

€oliseum,  injured  by  fire,  169.  Restored  in  the  reign  of  Probus, 
ibid.  Struck  by  lightning,  but  repaired,  ibid.  Shows  exhibited 
there,  170.  Probable  causes  of  the  holes  that  disfigure  its 
surface,  ibid.  Metamorphosed  into  a  fortress  in  the  twelfth 
century,  171.  History  of  its  successive  spoHations,  172 — 178. 
Christians  martyred  there,  178,  179.  Dramatic  mysteries  per- 
formed there,  179.     Efforts  made  for  its  preservation,  180,  181. 

■Column  of  Trajan,  account  of,   138 — 140.     Of  Phocas,   154. 

Comedies,  posthumous,  of  Alfieri,  character  of,  252. 

Concord,  temple  of,   152. 

Conservators'  Palace,  165.  Duties  of  the  Roman  conservator^, 
166,  167. 

Constans,  Emperor,  devastations  committed  by,  at  Rome,  76. 

Coronation  of  Rienzi,  tribune  of  the  Roman  people,  manner  and 
form  of,  364,  365. 

Crescentius,  tyrant  of  Rome,  notice  of,  161,  162. 


D. 

Dante,  exquisite  sonnet  of  Count  Alfieri  on  the  tomb  of,  256- 
D\flnville.  opinion  of,  concerning  the  circumference  of  Rome,  119. 
Death  of  Abel,  a  melo-tragedy  of  Alfieri's.  character  of,  253, 
Dilapidations  of  ancient  Rome,  by  the  Emperor  Constans,  76.     By 
various  popes,  60 — 63,  83,  99,    104 — 106.     Reflections  there- 
on by  Petrarch,  96,  97,  and  no^cs.      Dilapidations  committed  by 
the  inferior  clergy,  53 — 63.     Account  of  various  dilapidations 
perpetrated  in  the  sixteenth  century,  107,  108. 
Donatus,  a  Roman  antiquary,  character  of,  42. 
Donus  /.,  Pope,  devastations   committed  by,    on  ancient  Roma» 
edifices,  62. 


E. 

Earthquakes,  at  Rome,  notice  of,  73. 

Empire,  removal  of  the  seat  of,  one  cause  of  the  decay  of  Rome- 

67.  68. 


376 

Eugenius  tF.,  Pope,  dilapidations  committed  by,  at  Rome,  99. 


Faunus,  Lucius,  a  Roman  antiquary,  character  of,  42. 

Ferrara,  cell  at,  where  Tasso  is  said  to  have  been  confined,  13. 
Remarks  on  the  inscription  over  it,  14,  15.  State  of  that  city 
in  1565  26,  27.  Tasso  persecuted  by  the  Ferrarese,  27.  Their 
gross  flattery  of  their  sovereigns,  ib.  Notice  of  Tasso's  MSS. 
preserved  there,  303 — 323. 

Fires,  devastations  of,  in  Rome,  65,  66. 

Flagellations  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  account  of,  202,  203.  Re- 
marks on  this  superstition,  204.  Its  origin,  i6.  History  of  dif- 
ferent sets  of  flagellants,  ib.  205. 

Fortresses,  ancient  edifices  converted  into,  84,  190,  200. 

Forum,  Roman,  site  of,  all  that  can  be  now  ascertained,  151.  Opi- 
nions concerning  its  site,  155,  156.  Supposed  situation  of  the 
Temple  of  Concord,  152.  Superb  remains  of  it,  153.  Column 
of  Phocas,  and  its  inscription,  153.  Excavations  in  the  Forum, 
under  the  direction  of  the  Abate  Fea,  156 — and  of  the  Dutchess 
of  Devonshire,  ib.  Notice  of  ancient  remains  existing  there, 
167,  158. 

Forum  of  Trajan,  account  of,  140 — 144. 

Foscolo,  Hugo,  early  history  of,  282.  Character  of  his  tragedy 
of  Thyestes,  283.  Examination  of  his  "  Letters  of  Ortis," 
ib. — 286.  Character  of  his  translation  of  Sterne's  Sentimen- 
tal Journey,  285,  286.  Analysis  and  character  of  his  Dis- 
course for  the  Congress  of  Lyons,  with  specimens,  ib. — 289. 
Account  of  his  edition  of  the  works  of  fliontecuculi,  ib. — 290. 
Foscolo  appointed  professor  of  literature  at  Favia,  291.  No- 
tice of  his  inaugural  discourse,  ibid.  Is  displaced  292.  Re- 
marks on  his  prose  style,  292,  293.  Extract  of  his  poem  / 
Sepolcri,  with  remarks,  294,  295.  Remarks  on  his  tragedies  of 
Ricciarda  and  Ajax,  297.  Anecdotes  of  his  private  life  and 
opinions,  299—301. 

G. 

Gibbon,  Mr.,  his  account  of  the  circumference  of  Rome  consider- 
ed, 118.  Mistake  of,  concerning  the  sepulchre  of  Metella, 
corrected,  132.  Remarks  on  his  mistake  concerning  the  Co- 
liseum, 173,  174.  And  on  his  mistake  concerning  Hadrian'? 
Mole,  190—192. 


i 


377 

Gonzago,  Vincenzo,  Prince  of  Mantua,  solicits  the  liberation  of 

Tasso,  14.     His  treatment  of  the  poet,  24. 
Gregory  the  Great,  Pope,  account  of  his   devastations  of  ancient 

edifices  at  Rome,  60,  61. 
Guide-books  to  Italy,  falsehoods  of,  exposed,  35 — 37. 
Guiscard,  Robert,  ravages  committed  by  the  troops  of,  in  anicent 

Rome,  86—87. 

H. 

Hadrian,  Emperor,  Mole  of,  189.  Mistakes  of  Gibbon,  concern- 
ing it,  corrected,  191,  192.  Uncertainty  of  its  original  form, 
193.  Fortified  and  called  the  Castle  of  St.  Angelo,  196.  His- 
tory of  its  different  sieges,  ib. — 199.   Its  present  state,  199,  200. 

Hadrian  I.  Pope,  devastations  committed  by,  on  ancient  Roman 
edifices,  61. 

Hammers,  cruciform,  of  the  Scandinavians,  215.  Similarity  be- 
tween them  and  the  marks  on  the  Alban  vases,  216. 

ifand/cerc/ite/ of  St.  Veronica,  100,  101.  Adventures  of  it,  100, 
note. 

Homer,  Iliad  of,  translated  by  Cesarotti,  226.  Remarks  on  his 
version,  227,  228.  Translated  by  Monti,  276.  Critical  obser- 
vations thereon,  «6.  277.  Notice  of  Pindemonte's  version  of 
the  Odyssey  of  Homer,  263. 

Honorius,  Emperor,  ordered  the  temples  of  Rome  to  be  shut,  53. 

Horse  of  Aurelius,  or  of  Constantine,  164,  165. 

Humfi,  Mr.,  observation  of,  on  the  Jesuits,  205,  note. 

I. 

Jnscnp<ton,  to  Scipio  Barbatus,  111,  112,  notes.  To  Agrippiaa, 
115.  To  the  Emperor  Trajan,  140,  note.  To  the  Emperor 
Nerva,  141,  142,  note.  To  Flavius  Merobaudus,  ib.  To  the 
Emperor  Phocas,  154,  note.     On  the  Coliseum,  181,  note. 

Inundations  of  the  Tiber,  67,  68,  74,  76,  and  note  107. 

Ir religion,  excused  by  classical  authority,  27,  note. 

Italy,  present  state  of  literature  in,  221. 

J. 
Jesuits,  remark  of  Home  on,  205,  note. 


378 


Laetus,  Pomponius,  a  Roman  antiquary,  character  of,  43. 

Leonora,  Princess  of  Este,  not  the  mistress  of  Tasso,  18,  19. 

Letter,  pathetic,  of  Tasso,  22,  23,  note.  Copies,  with  translations, 
of  several  hitherto  inedited  letters  of  that  poet,  306 — 323.  Co- 
pies and  translations  of  inedited  letters  of  the  Tribune  Rienzi,. 
326—366. 

Literary  vnen,  memoirs  of,  cherished  by  the  Italians,  11,  12.  List 
of  eminent  men,  natives  of  the  dutchy  of  Reggio,  13,  14.  How 
treated  by  the  Italian  princes,  24,  25.  Little  encouragement 
to  them  from  the  Italian  public,  235. 

Literature,  on  the  present  state  of,  in,Italy,  221.  Different  periods 
in  it,  noticed,  ib. — 222.  Reason  why  particular  works  are  po- 
pular in  Italy,  223,  224.  Notice  of  eminent  Italian  literati,  ib. 
Cesarotti,  ib.  226—239.  Mazza,  ib.  232,  Parini,  ib.  249. 
Alfieri,  ib.— 258.  Hippolitus  Pindemonte,  259,  260.  Monti, 
266—281.  Foscolo,  282— 300- 
Eyrics  of  Alfieri,  character  of,  254,  255.  Design  of  lyric  poetry, 
295,  296. 

M. 

Marlianus,  a  Roman  antiquary,  character  of,  42,  43. 

Marozia,  the  mother  and  grandmother  of  two  popes,  notice  of, 
195,  196,  and  notes. 

Martin  V.  Pope,  dilapidations  committed  by,  in  Rome,  99,  100. 

Mazza  Angelo,  an  Italian  poet,  character  and  anecdotes  of,  230, 
231. 

Mernbaudus,  Flavius,  inscription  to,  142,  note. 

Metella,  Cecilia,  tomb  of,  converted  into  a  fortress,  1 14 — 131.  In- 
scription to  her,  130.  Its  modern  name,  t6.  Successive  spolia- 
tions of  it,  132.  Mistake  of  Gibbon  concerning  it,  corrected,  i6. 

Middleion,  Dr.,  reflections  of,  in  the  Roman  Forum,  150,  151. 

Millin,  M.,  character  of  his  Travels  in  Upper  Italy,  43,  note. 

Misogallo,  of  Count  Alfieri,  notice  of,  256,  257. 

Monti,  Vincent,  venal  muse  of,  266,  267.  Character  of  his  po- 
etry, particularly  of  his  tragedies,  ib.  268.  Occasion  of  his  poem 
on  the  death  of  Hugh  Basville,  ib.  Analysis  of  the  poem, 
with  specimens  and  remarks,  269 — 271.  Character  of  his  re- 
volutionary poems,  272,  273.  Particularly  his  poem  on  the 
death  of  Mascheroni,  274.     And  the  Bard  of  the  Black  Fores 


379 

274,  276.  Character  of  his  version  of  the  Iliad,  277,  278.  And 
of  the  Satires  of  Persius,  277,  278.  His  poems  in  praise 
of  Buonaparte,  278.  Notice  of  his  other  poems,  278,  279.  Cha- 
racter of  his  prose  style,  279,  280.  Remarks  on  his  political  ter- 
giversations, 280 — 282. 
Mosti,  Agostino,  the  gaoler  of  Tasso,  22.  Remarks  on  his  treat- 
ment of  the  poet,  23,  and  note  on  22. 


N. 

M'ardini,  a  Roman  antiquary,   character  of,  42,  43.     His  works 

about  to  be  republished,  44. 
JVerva,  Emperor,    inscription  to,   142,  note. 
Normans,  ravages    of  Rome  by,    in    the   eleventh  century,     86. 

86. 

O. 

Odes  of  Parini,  character  of,  243 — 247. 
Oracle  of  the  Umbrian  Jove,  consulted  by  Caligula,  31. 
Ossian,  genuineness  of,  disputed  in  Italy,  226.     Character  of  Ce- 
sarotti's  Italian  version,  ib. 


Palatine,  Mount,  ancient  edifices  on,  successively  despoiled  by 
Goths  and  Christians,  133,  135.  Present  state  of  the  ancient 
remains  on  it,  135 — 137.  Its  old  walls  scraped  for  saltpetre, 
138. 

Pantheon,  conflicting  opinions  of  antiquaries  concerning  it,  182. 
To  whom  dedicated,  183.  When  consecrated  as  a  Cliri.-tian 
church,  67,  183.  Converted  into  a  fortress,  184.  Def":ed 
by  papal  additions,  185.  Busts  of  eminent  men  deposited 
there,  186. 

Parini,  Joseph,  anecdotes  of,  232,  233.  Publishes  his  poem 
called  The  Day,  233.  State  of  society  described  in  it,  234. 
Causes  of  its  success,  236.  Analysis  of  the  poem,  237.  Com- 
pared by  the  Italians  to  Virgil's  Georgics,  238.  Remarks  on 
its  versification,  ib.  Its  popularity,  241.  Parini  provided  for 
by  the  Austrian  government,  ib.     Character  of  his  oSes,  243, 

48 


3^0 

244.  Intended  kindness  of  the  Emperor  Leopold  II.  24G.  His 
intluence  over  the  populace,  247.  His  independence,  248. 
Peaceful  death,  249. 

Paul  III.  Pope,  devastations  committed  by,  oh  ancient  Roman 
edifices,  C2. 

Paul  y.  Pope,  devastations  committed  by,  63. 

Pepoli,  Count  Alexander,  literary  character  of,  258,  269. 

Persius,  Satires  of,  translated  by  Monti,  277. 

Pestilence,  ravages  of,  at  Home,   69,  and  note. 

Peter.     See  Saint  Peter. 

Petrarch,  reflections  of  on  the  dilapidations  of  Rome,  96,  97,  and 
notes.  Beautiful  sonnet  on  his  house  at  Arqua,  by  Count 
Alfieri,  256,  256. 

Pliocas,  Emperor,  Column  of,  154,  155,  Inscription  to  him,  154, 
note. 

Piety.  Temple  of,  its  present  state,  187 — 190. 

Pindemonte,  Marquis  John,  character  of  the  tragedies  of,  259, 
260. 

Pindemonte.  Hippolitus,  character  of  his  tragedy  of  Arminius, 
260.  And  of  his  epistles  in  verse  260,261.  Beautiful  descrip- 
tion of  an  English  park,  261,  262.  Exquisite  canzone  to  an  Eng- 
lish lady,  263.  Character  of  his  prose  writings,  ib.  Notice 
of  his  translation  of  the  Odyssey,  264.  What  rank  he  holds 
among  the  literati  of  Italy,  264,  265. 

Pius  II.  Pope,  dilapidations  committed  by,  on  the  remain^  of  an- 
cient Rome,  104. 

Pius  VII.  Pope,  partial  translation  of,  202.  The  old  supersti- 
tions restored  by  him,  205. 

Popes,  destruction  of  ancient  edifices  at  Rome  by,  60 — 62,  83,  99, 
104,  105,  106,  107.  Their  real  services,  in  preserving  the 
remains  of  ancient  Rome,  considered.  109,  110. 

Probus,  Emperor,  vast  show  of  beasts  and  gladiators  exhibited  by. 
in  the  Coliseum,  169. 

Pyramid  of  Cestius,  133. 

Q. 

^uirinal,  columns  of  the  temple  on,  sent  to  Constantinople,  56. 

R. 
Reggio,  dutchy  of,  list  of  eminent  men,  natives  of,  12,  13. 


381 

Relics,  pretended,  discovered  at  Rome,  100. 

Republic,  Roman,  few  vestiges  of  remaining,  128 — 130. 

Rienzi,  Nicholas,  Tribune  of  Rome,  163.  Account  of  his  admini- 
stration, ib.  note  164.  Copy  and  translation  of  his  (hitherto 
inedited)  letter  to  the  senate  and  Roman  people,  32G — 331. 
Of  the  letters  sent  to  the  court  of  Rome,  concerning  the  mat- 
ters which  were  settled  in  the  parliament  summoned  by  Rienzi, 
before  the  ambassadors  of  Italy,  or  of  the  empire  and  its  juris- 
diction, 332 — 337.  Of  the  letters  sent  by  Rienzi  to  the  people 
and  university  of  Viterbo,  concerning  the  assistance  required 
from  them  in  the  government  of  the  republic,  338 — 343.  Of 
his  letters  to  his  friend  at  the  papal  court  at  Avignon,  344 — 
357,  Of  his  letters  to  the  pope  in  vindication  of  himself  338 
— 363.  And  of  the  manner  and  form  of  Rienzi's  coronation, 
364—367. 

Romans,  character  of,  in  the  dark  ages.  159,  ICO. 

Rome,  approach  to,  described,  37.  View  of  from  the  Pincian 
Mount.  38,  39.  Remarks  on  the  mistakes  in  the  notices  of 
Roman  antiquities,  40 — 44.  Sacked  and  burnt  by  Alaric  the 
Goth,  46.  By  Genserick  the  Vandal,  49.  By  Ricimer,  ib. 
By  Vitiges,  51.  And  Totila.  51,  52.  Injuries  done  to  the  an- 
cient edifices  by  the  Christian  clergy.  53 — 57.  Destruction  of 
the  baths,  59.  Devastations  of  Gregory  the  Great  60.  And 
subsequent  popes,  61 — 63.  Devastations  by  the  inferior  cler- 
gy. 63,  64.  Account  of  the  damages  this  city  has  sustained  by 
fire.  65,  66.  By  civil  wars,  66.  By  inundations  of  the  Tiber, 
67,  74,  75,  and  note  107.  By  the  removal  of  the  emperors 
to  Constantinople,  67.  Consequent  decay  of  the  city.  68 — 71. 
And  wretched  state  of  the  population.  72.  Injuries  of  earth- 
quakes, 73,  74.  Cultivated  lands  within  the  walls.  73.  Ha- 
. raged  by  pestilences,  75.  and  7iote.  Devastations  of  Rome  by 
the  emperor  Constans  76.  Political  state  of  Home  in  the  ninth 
century,  78 — 81  ;  and  in  the  tenth  century,  83.  Dilapidations  of 
ancient  edifices,  permitted  by  the  popes,  ib.  Ancient  edifices, 
converted  into  fortresses.  84,  85.  Ravages  of  the  Normans  in 
the  eleventh  century.  85,  86.  Desolated  by  civil  wars  in  the 
twelfth  century,  88-90.  91  ;  and  by  the  contests  between  the  ri- 
Tal  emperors.  Henry  VII.  and  John.  93.  The  remains  of  ancient 
Rome  protected  during  the  popular  government  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  94,  95.  Reflections  of  Petrarch  on  the  dilapidations 
of  Rome,  96,  97,  and  notes.     Besieged  and  ravaged  by  Ladislaus 


382 

of  Naples,  99,  note.  Dilapidations  by  Martin  V.  and  Eugenius 
IV.,  99.  Notice  of  pretended  relics  at  Rome,  100.  Account 
of  the  remains  of  republican  and  imperial  Rome,  in  the  time 
of  Poggio,  101—103.  The  city  sacked  by  the  emperor  Charles 
v.,  105,  106.  Dilapidations  committed  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, 107,  108.  Estimates  of  the  services  of  the  popes,  in 
preserving  the  remains  of  ancient  Rome,  109,  110.  Tomb  of 
the  Scipios,  111,  112.  Opinions  of  Gibbon  concerning  the 
circumference  of  Rome,  considered,  118,  119.  Its  circumfer- 
ence according  to  D'Anville,  119.  Admeasurement  of  two  Eng- 
lishmen in  1817,  ib.  note.  Of  Poggio  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, ib.  Differences  in  these  various  measurements  consi- 
dered, 120,  121,  122.  Notices  of  successive  reparations  of 
the  walls  of  Rome,  122 — 125.  List  of  the  few  remains  of  anti- 
quity that  are  undoubted,  126.  But  few  vestiges  remaining  of 
the  Roman  republic,  128 — 130.  Present  state  of  the  Palatine 
Hill,  133— 138.  Of  Trajan's  Forum,  138— 144.  Ancient  and 
present  state  of  the  Capitol,  145 — 150.  Of  the  Roman  Forum, 
150,  151.  Brief  notice  of  the  tyrants,  who  at  different  times 
governed  Rome,  169 — 165.  History  and  present  state  of  the 
Coliseum,  168—182.  Of  the  Pantheon,  182—186.  Of  the  Pem- 
ple  of  Piety,  187—190.  Of  Hadrian's  Mole,  or  the  castle  of 
St.  Angelo,  190—200. 


S. 

Saint  Angelo,  castle  of,  its  history,  196-199  ;  and  present  state,  199. 

Saint  Peter,  church  of,  at  Rome,  partly  built  from  the  materials 
of  ancient  edifices,  62.  His  statue  raised  on  i  rajan's  Column, 
198.  Its  interior,  and  the  rites  there  performed  little  calcu- 
lated for  devotion,  200,  201. 

Sallust,  translated  bj'  Aliieri,  character  of,  251. 

Satires  of  Alfieri,  character  of,  253,  254. 

Scipio  Barbatus,  tomb  of.  111,  112.  Inscriptions  to  his  memory, 
111,  112,  notes. 

Senate  of  Rome,   165. 

Senators  of  Rome,  not  always  of  foreign  birth,  166.  Their  func- 
tions,  167,   168. 

Sepulchres,  when  emptied  of  their  ashes,  112 — 114.  Urns  and 
sarcophagi  of,  transported  to  the  churches  as  receptacles  of  re- 
lics, 114.     See  Tomb. 


383 

Sixtus  IF.,  Pope,  devastations  committecl  by,  on  ancient  Roman 

edifices,  62,  104,   105,  and  note. 
Sixtus  v.,  Pope,  devastations  committed  by,  62,  63. 
Sonnets,  two  beautiful  ones  of  Alfieri,  255,  256. 
Stilicho,  plundered  the  Capitoline  temple,  56. 
Superstition,  return  of,  with  the  papal  power,  205,  206. 
Sybilline  books,  burnt  by  Stilicho,  56. 


T. 

Tar peian  rock,  actual  site  of,  uncertain,   144. 

Tasso,  Bernardo,  epitaph  on,  305. 

Tasso,  Torquato,  confined  in  a  cell  at  Ferrara,  13.  Description 
of  it,  tb.  Liberated  at  the  request  of  the  Prince  of  Milan,  15. 
Various  causes  assigned  for  his  imprisonment,  16 — 19.  The 
real  cause,  his  injurious  expressions  against  the  House  of  Este, 
20,  21.  Duration  of  his  imprisonment,  22.  His  treatment 
there,  ib.  His  treatment  by  the  Prince  of  Milan,  25.  His  po- 
verty, ib.  Pathetic  letter  of  fas'p's,  22,  23,  iiote.  His  cruel 
treatment  at  Ferrara,  28.  His  writings  pilfered  and  pirated,  ib. 
Account  of  his  autograph  manuscripts  preserved  in  the  public 
library  at  Ferrara,  303,  304.  Copy  of  his  will,  304.  His  in- 
scription to  the  memory  of  his  father,  305.  Letter  of  Tasso  to 
Licinio,  306,  307.  To  Luca  Scalabrino,  308—311,  318—321. 
To  George  Alessio,  312,  313.  To  Cardinal  Bon  Compagno, 
soliciting  his  release  from  imprisonment  in  the  Hospital  of  St. 
Anna,  314—317.     To  the  patriarch  Gonzaga,  322,  323. 

Temple  of  the  Umbrian  Jupiter,  31.  Its  oracle  consulted  by  Cali- 
gula, ib.  Converted  into  a  Christian  church,  32.  Description 
of  it,  33.  Account  of  its  dilapidations  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, 35.  Temples  of  Rome  shut  by  an  edict  of  Ilonorius,  53. 
Account  of  devastations  of  the  ancient  temples,  54 — 67. 
Churches  built  on  the  sites  of  many  temples  at  Rome,  58.  Cu- 
rious instances  of  this  conversion,  58,  note.  Other  temples 
despoiled  for  materials  to  build  churches,  58.  Notice  of  the 
Temple  of  Concord,  152,  153  ;  and  of  the  Temple  of  Piety, 
187—190. 
Theatres  of  Rome  destroyed,  59. 
Theodosius  the  younger,  ordered  the  temples  to  be  destroyed, 

54,  55. 
Tiber,  inundations  of,  67,  74,  75  ;  and  note  107. 


384 

Tomasetti  vase,  account  of,  with  remarks,  208 — 817. 

Tomb  of  Scipio  Barbatus,  111.  112.  Ancient  tombs  converted  int© 
fortresses,  114.  Their  marbles  converted  into  receptacles  for 
the  remains  of  Christians,  ib.  Others  converted  into  cisterns, 
and  employed  for  pavements,  114,  116.  The  sarcophagus  of 
Agrippina  employed  as  a  measure  for  corn,  115.  The  tomb  of 
Augustus  now  used  as  a  circus  for  bull-feasts,  115.  Tomb  of 
the  Servilian  family  preserved  by  Canova,  118.  Tomb  of  Me- 
tella  described,  130 — 132. 

Trajan's  Column,  St.  Peter's  statue  raised  on.  138.  His  ashes 
when  disturbed,  139.  When  and  why  raised,  140.  Inscription 
on  it.  140,  note. 

Trajan's  Forum,  design  of  140.  List  of  eminent  men,  whose  sta- 
tues were  raised  there,  140,  141.  Its  desolation,  when  com- 
menced, 142.  Its  dimensions  and  present  state,  as  ascertaiiied 
by  recent  excavations,  143,  144. 


U. 

Urban  VIIL,  Pope,  devastadons  committed  by,  on  ancient  Roman 
ediEces,  62,  63. 


V. 

Vases,  ancient,  discovered  near  the  Alban  Hill,  208,  209.  Ac- 
count of  them  by  Dr.  Visconti,  209-2 1 1 .  Observations  thereon, 
211—217. 

Veronica.  Saint,  adventures  of  the  handkerchief  of,  100,  and  note. 

VirgiL  illustrations  of,  39.  Character  of  Alfieri's  translation  of 
this  poet,  251,  252. 

W. 

Walls  of  Rome,  rebuilt  from  the  materials  of  ancient  edifices,  61. 

Notice  of  their  successive  reparations,  121,  122 — 126. 
Will  of  Tasso,  copy  of,  304,  306. 


THE    END. 


